A Father's Love
by lord of the land of fire
Summary: The Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato survived the Kyuubi's attack and the loss of his beloved wife.Now he must do everything in his power to protect his son and help him reach his dream, to become Hokage. Naru X Hina
1. The terrible night

**Author's Note: **This is a story I have been thinking about for some time. I decided to post because of a message sent to me from, 'Mistress Ayako' who was upset at the coming death of Minato in my other story AML: Life of Kushina and asked me if I had considered a story where Minato lives and Kushina dies. Those of you familiar with my story, 'A Mother's Love' and its other versions will recognize certain characters and events. This story can be considered to be in the same 'universe' as my AML stories, and Life of Kushina can be seen as a prequel to this one. Though this will be very different for obvious reasons, but **especially **there will be no influence from the Uzumaki clan in Naruto's life. Those of you who have never read any of my other stories don't need to worry; this can be read and enjoyed on its own.

XXXXXXXXXX

Minato stood in the operating room with his tiny newborn son in his hands.

"Her pulse is dropping! She's losing too much blood!" The doctor shouted and cast a medical jutsu. Two other doctors were casting medical jutsus as well, but even so from their panicked shouts it seemed she was fading away. He suddenly wished he'd gone and gotten Tsunade even if it had been against her will. Kushina had asked her friend to come deliver their child. The Sannin had sent back a message apologizing but saying she never wanted to see Konoha again.

They had been disappointed but not worried. Kushina was in the best of health and Konoha had some of the finest medical facilities in the world. They'd assumed everything would be fine.

Then they'd gotten word about the Kyuubi. Reports began to arrive about villages and towns laid to fiery ruin. Scouts were sent out and those not slaughtered by the beast sent back reports confirming the demon fox was heading straight for the village and would arrive in mere hours. He'd quickly realized that no ninjutsu could possibly defeat some a powerful being. He'd decided the only hope was a sealing jutsu. But there was no seal known that could possibly overwhelm such a creature. Luckily Jiraiya happened to be in the village, together they had come up with a solution that _might _work; the Shiki Fuujin. They would call upon the power of a death god, a shinigami to imprison the Kyuubi. But to work this ultimate sealing jutsu two things were required; a newborn child to act as the container and a human sacrifice.

As Hokage he felt it fell upon him to make that sacrifice, and that it fell upon his son and heir to be the container. Kushina had railed against his decision, tearfully arguing against losing him and having her child used to imprison a demon. She had argued against his decision, but in the end she had admitted there was no choice. So as he and Jiraiya worked feverishly to complete the jutsu formula she was induced into labor.

Only then had they realized her body was not as strong as they'd all thought. The stress of knowing he would die, of knowing what her baby would have to endure, the overwhelming fear of the coming apocalypse, and the pressure of her body being forced into labor. All of them had been too much.

As he stood there powerless he could do no more than watch as Kushina's heartbeat continued to slow, until it… stopped. The doctors had done all they could, but they hadn't been able to save her. She hadn't even been conscious so there had been no chance for a final goodbye. She had simply gone.

"Kushina, my love," he whispered.

At that moment his son, Naruto began to cry. Minato looked down at the little baby. He wondered if somehow he _knew _on some instinctual level that he had lost his mother. Or if perhaps he was able to feel his father's pain. "It'll be all right my son," he gently cradled him in his arms and held him close. "It'll be all right."

XXXXXXXXXX

Atop the Tower Minato arrived without warning. Jiraiya and Sarutobi turned to him. "How is Kushina?" Sarutobi asked. They were well aware of difficulties she'd been having during her labor.

Minato looked at the former Hokage and gave a single sad shake of his head. Sarutobi lowered his eyes.

"I'm so sorry kid; she was a really good woman." Jiraiya said.

"Yes, she was, and I loved her." He looked out into the distance. "But I have no time to mourn."

It was night, but to the west it was as bright as morning. The giant fox was only a few miles away now. Each of his tails could be seen clearly. Out there in the fiery light the ninja of Konoha were sacrificing themselves to buy him the time he needed. They had no chance of defeating or even injuring the Kyuubi. They were a momentary distraction to the nine tail, nothing more.

On the rooftop a small table with lit candles had been set. Minato carefully put his son down and dipped a brush into an ink jar. He carefully but swiftly wrote out the seal on his son's belly.

"Are you sure about locking away only half of the chakra?" Jiraiya asked.

Minato nodded his head even as he continued to write the symbols. "Naruto will need that strength some day. He'll be the greatest ninja this village has ever seen; he'll use the Kyuubi's might to protect Konoha. He'll be a hero."

"You know what kid?" Jiraiya said softly. "I bet he will, I mean how could he not be with who his parents are?"

"He's not going to have any family," Minato said sadly. "He'll be an orphan." He looked up at the two of them. "I want the village to see him as a hero, but no matter what _please_ watch out for him." Sarutobi nodded.

Jiraiya smiled sadly. "Don't worry, I promise you he won't grow up alone."

Minato gave Jiraiya a look of relief. "Thank you sensei, if you say that then I can be sure."

At last it was ready. Minato made a single hand sign. "**Seal." **The ink glowed for an instant and melded permanently into the baby's skin even as he continued to weep. Minato looked down at the little crying face. "I'm so sorry my son."

Jiraiya stepped up behind him. "I'm sorry too kid, please forgive me."

Minato felt a sudden vicious chop to the back of his head. Caught totally unaware it knocked him clean out. _Sensei…_

XXXXXXXXXX

Jiraiya caught him before he could hit the floor and carefully set him down. "Heh, I wonder if this counts as assaulting the Hokage?" He looked at Sarutobi with an amused grin. "Well it's not like I need to worry about being executed for it." He carefully took the squalling babe in his arms.

"Jiraiya, I beg you to let me do this!" Sarutobi said. "Of the three of us the village can most easily do without an old retired Hokage rather than a Sannin or the ruling Hokage!"

"Sorry old man, but of the three of us you're the only one who doesn't know the jutsu and I don't have time to teach it you. Thanks for everything though, you were the best sensei a guy could ask for. If you could though, tell Tsunade something for me."

"That you love her?"

Jiraiya opened his mouth, but hesitated. Then he grinned. "Nah, tell her I really wish I could have sucked those magnificent jugs even just once." He gave Sarutobi a bawdy wink as though sharing a final naughty joke with him. Then he looked down at the baby. "Don't worry Naruto, no matter what happens you're a very lucky little boy. You're going to grow up with the finest ninja and man I have ever known as your dad. Now let's go."

Together they vanished in a swirl of wind and leaves.

XXXXXXXXXX

Minato came to about half an hour later. He rubbed the back of his head and noted he was still on the roof. "Jiraiya, you idiot…"

He looked around. There was Sarutobi; in his arms was a sleeping baby. As Minato got to his feet he immediately noted how dark it was. Looking out beyond the wall he saw noting but empty forest.

He ran up to Sarutobi. "What happened? Jiraiya! He didn't take my place did he?"

Sarutobi nodded sadly. "He did Minato, he sacrificed himself and save the entire village. The sealing was a success."

_Jiraiya sensei! _In one night he had lost two of the most important people in the world to him. "Why? Why did he do that? I was ready to make the sacrifice!"

"He decided that you were needed Minato, by both the village and by your son. He did not want to deprive either of them of you. Please don't blame him or feel guilty, he only did what you were prepared to do. He sacrificed himself for the ones he loved. Here," Sarutobi handed over Naruto. "There is still much to do, both tonight and in the days ahead. But at least Konoha and Naruto will have you there to guide and protect them."

Minato looked down at his son's face. He was very surprised to see three tiny scars on each cheek. They looked like whiskers. _Physical evidence of the possession? _Minato wondered. Looking at his son he knew there would be some tough times in his future, but he would do everything he possibly could to help to help him through them.

Leaning over he placed a warm kiss on his son's cheek. "I love you Naruto."


	2. A different course

It was morning. Minato sat wearily at the head of the Council table. Though the village had survived there had been losses. Roughly three hundred brave ninja had died, about double that had been wounded, filling Konoha Hospital and pressing its medical staff. Mercifully, the Kyuubi had not made it into the village itself. The night had been filled with weary civilians making their way home from the cliff shelters where they had been evacuated. Minato had overseen everything while keeping a careful eye on his son.

Now that the sun was up he had called an emergency meeting of the Council. There was nothing to be decided now; it was really just to give them a report on their status following the attack. Someone had found a crib and Naruto was peacefully asleep behind his father as he told the Council members officially about Jiraiya's courageous sacrifice and of how the Kyuubi had been defeated. (Of course they already knew, the story had spread like wildfire.)

"So in short," Minato smothered a yawn. "The danger to the village is now over. Despite the loss of Jiraiya and so many other brave souls Konoha has survived. Now, if there is nothing else I'll be taking my son home so I can get a few hours of sleep."

"I beg your pardon Hokage-sama," Uchiha Fugaku stood up. "But there is something we need to discuss."

He covered up another yawn. _Trust Fugaku to want to drag things out. _"Yes? What is it?"

"With respect Hokage-sama, is the crisis truly over? Is the village now completely safe?"

Minato frowned. His sleep deprived brain did not like the sound of those questions. "What do you mean? The Kyuubi is now safely contained within my son."

"But how can we be certain that the Kyuubi no longer poses a threat?"

"My son is now what is referred to as a jiinchuriki," Minato began to explain. "He has essentially become the Kyuubi's jailer. The Kyuubi will not be able to control or influence him in any way. There would be little point to the seal otherwise. As he grows older he will be able to draw some of the Kyuubi's chakra, but he will remain in control."

"Can you be absolutely certain of that?" Fugaku questioned.

"Yes."

The simple answer caught Fugaku a bit off guard. "How can you be completely sure of such a thing?"

"Because the two men who created the seal were myself and my sensei, the world's top two seal masters. We made that seal absolutely secure and I have no doubt whatsoever as to its strength." He arched an eyebrow. "Will you accept my opinion or do you believe you know more about seals than I do?"

Up and down the table there was laughter and an embarrassed Fugaku darkened. He was not used to being openly mocked. "With respect Hokage-sama," Fugaku continued. "Since the child is your son you may not be objective. I believe given the potential danger posed we must make absolutely certain that the Kyuubi can never again threaten this village."

Minato looked over at his sleeping son. "What do you propose?"

Fugaku straightened his shoulders and faced the Yondaime. "For the safety of this village I believe the container should be put to death and the threat permanently eliminated."

There were gasps followed by utter silence.

Minato sat there and looked at Fugaku for a moment. "I am passing a law," he said quietly. "As of this moment, anyone who threatens harm to my son whether by speech, written word, or action shall be put to death immediately. And that will specifically include members of this Council." He looked directly at the Uchiha clan head. "If you ever repeat those words or take any sort of action against my son I will kill you myself. Is that clear?"

"Very clear Hokage-sama," Fugaku answered and sat down.

"Oh and one more thing," Minato said as he took Naruto out of his crib. "Kushina and I were married a year and a half ago in secret. I'll have copies of the marriage certificate made available to all of you. I just want to make it official that Naruto's last name is Namikaze and he is my designated heir."

Up and down the table heads bobbed in quiet acknowledgement. They all accepted this without question.

"Now I'll be going home to rest. I'll be back in six hours." Minato and his son were gone in flash of yellow.

XXXXXXXXXX

"There you go," Minato carefully placed him down in the crib. Standing in the nursery made him grieve. Every single thing in this room had been picked out by him and Kushina. _Oh my darling how I wish you were still here with me._

"Minato-sama?" A woman entered the nursery without bothering to ask if she could. "I thought I heard your voice."

He smiled at the old woman in a maid's uniform. "Hello Kaede, it's good to see you again. Come say hello to Naruto."

Kaede approached and stood over the crib beside Minato. "Is… is it true he is the Kyuubi?" For once fear poked out of her normally calm exterior.

Minato shook his head. "No, he is not the Kyuubi. He is the Kyuubi's jailer. He is no more the Kyuubi than I am."

Kaede looked at him unable to completely hide her nerves. "Is there any chance the Kyuubi could escape?"

"None," Minato said. "That seal was made by me and sensei. It has layers of redundancy and fail safes. There is absolutely no chance the seal could fail. And I'll be checking on it regularly even so. Believe me; I would not have brought him home if there were even a one in a million chance of seal failure."

Kaede slowly nodded. The fear vanished and the normal calm exterior returned. "If you say so Minato-sama then I believe you. I will remain in the nursery and take care of him, when he wakes he will likely be hungry. I have formula ready." She looked at Minato respectfully. "Do you wish me to take charge of him or would you prefer I hire a nanny?"

"You raised me when I lost my mother. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have taking care of my son."

She bowed to him. "Thank you Minato-sama, I will do my best to be as good a caretaker with Naruto as I was with you. I am very sorry about Kushina and Jiraiya. She was a lovely woman and would have made a wonderful mother. He was a vile pervert but a good teacher and friend to you."

Minato loved how Kaede was never afraid to tell him what she thought, even now. "Thank you, I'm going to miss them both." He smothered a yawn. "The memorial will be tomorrow."

Kaede nodded. "Get some sleep Minato-sama, I will watch after the little one."

XXXXXXXXXX

Two days later the memorial was held. More than three hundred photos were put on display, Kushina's and Jiraiya's among them. Among the people who attended the service were an exhausted Tsunade and Shizune. As soon as he saw her Minato couldn't help but feel anger. He would never know for sure if Kushina would have lived if Tsunade had been there, but he was sure the odds would have been higher. Though he spotted her he made no effort to talk to her before the ceremony. She did however meet him to offer condolences.

"I'm very sorry Minato," Tsunade told him.

"I see you managed to make it to the village after all," he said coldly. He knew he wasn't really being fair, but he couldn't seem to help it.

Tsunade flinched a bit at her reception. She'd hoped to hear him call her auntie but didn't think that was going to happen. "I really am very sorry Minato, if I'd had any idea anything like this would happen I would have come."

He nodded, he did believe that.

"Is it true that your son is now the Kyuubi's container?" She asked.

"Yes," Minato replied. "I was ready to sacrifice myself to perform the jutsu before sensei knocked me out. I felt it was my duty as Hokage. As my son and heir I thought it was Naruto's duty to imprison the demon and try to use his power for the good of the village."

"As long as I'm here why don't I give him a check up? I would love to see him." Tsunade offered.

"That won't be necessary Tsunade," he said politely but brusquely. "My son has excellent doctors to look out for him, and I wouldn't want to keep you in this village you hate so much any longer than necessary."

"Minato…"

"Please excuse me." He walked past her to speak to some other mourners who wanted to pass on their wishes.

Tsunade had secretly been hoping he would invite her to stay for a few days. She really did want to see the baby, and to talk to Minato and the old man. But after talking with Minato she decided it would be better to just go. So she and Shizune left Konoha after only a few hours.

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Minato had passed the law barring any threat against his son but did not pass one to prevent people from talking about what he was. Minato wanted the villagers to see him as a hero and so he did not object to their talking about the sacrifice he had made. Also given the public nature of the Kyuubi's defeat at the hands of the gallant Jiraiya he felt declaring it secret would be pointless. Surely everyone would find out eventually anyway, so why bother trying to keep it secret? Most of the people in the village accepted Naruto. Some really did see him as a hero. Most accepted him as the Yondaime's son and believed he had done his duty to the village. With Minato alive the vast majority were certain Naruto was not dangerous.

During that first year eighty nine people were executed for violating the Hokage's special law. Many of these were drunken idiots who screamed threats while in a bar or wandering home. Their intoxication was no defense; if they were unlucky enough to speak the threat where an ANBU could hear them they were killed on the spot. If someone informed on them they were arrested and their guilt or innocence was determined using mind reading jutsus or interrogation methods. If they were innocent they were sent home. If they were guilty they were executed. The Hokage's law was enforced zealously.

Of those eighty nine none were ninja and none of them were executed for taking any sort of threatening action against Naruto. No one was stupid enough to actually try and trespass onto the Namikaze estate.

At least not until…

XXXXXXXXXX

**Three Years Later**

There had been a short border conflict with the forces of Kumo. Minato had offered to go to help his forces fight but the Council had been adamant their Hokage not leave the village. After some inconclusive battles the war had fallen into a stalemate. At last the Raikage offered to negotiate a settlement and treaty of alliance. He sent a group of high ranking ninja to Konoha to make peace.

XXXXXXXXXX

A single figure in black leapt over the iron fence and onto the private grounds. The estate was heavily forested and so he had ample cover as he approached the great mansion. Over a year had been spent preparing this mission. The Raikage was obsessed with the Biju and wanted as much of their power as he could get. The chance to acquire the most powerful of all of them was too good to be passed up.

The ninja came to a halt on the edge of the wood to take a look at the mansion before dashing over the open ground to it. He never suspected Minato was there until he felt a fist crash into the back of his skull.

When he woke up he was in chains in an ANBU interrogation cell. The instant he realized what had happened he but down hard.

"Don't bother, the cyanide tablet was removed after you were captured," Minato said.

The Cloud nin looked up to see the Yondaime Hokage casually leaning against the far wall of his cell. "I take responsibility for my actions! I acted alone and was not under any sort of order!"

"Of course not, that's what the rest of your party said when they were arrested as well."

"You arrested them?!" That was not how the _game _was played. When ninja were granted diplomatic status only the one actually caught committing a crime were liable for arrest. "That is a violation of diplomatic rights!"

"I cancelled your diplomatic status the second I caught you trying to hurt my son. Oh, and by the way, you shouldn't try and sneak into a seal master's home. I have every inch of the grounds warded. I knew the moment you trespassed that you were out there."

"Do what you will with me Hokage-sama, but if you do not release the others the war will certainly be renewed!"

"Oh, I know it will be." Minato said. "For coming here to try and kidnap my son you and your entire party will be executed. And this time _I'll _be going to the front to take charge of things personally."

XXXXXXXXXX

Minato did go to the front despite the worries of the Council. He gave the Cloud ninja a full bloody taste of the Yellow Flash's fury. After a matter of weeks they understood just why the Iwa nin had had a retreat on sight order for him. The Raikage again sued for peace, this time sincerely. He also again requested an alliance with the fearsome leaf ninja. Minato agreed to this, thus giving Konoha alliances with both Suna and Kumo.

That October tenth Minato celebrated the victory over the Kyuubi. To him this day would always be a mix of good and bad. It was Naruto's birthday and a day of salvation for Konoha. But it also marked the deaths of Kushina and Jiriaya. Being Hokage though he had to take part and be seen celebrating. With a drink in hand he watched as Naruto and Hinata were playing with Neji. Hiashi and his brother Hizashi were nearby keeping an eye on them as they talked. Naruto was a very happy and outgoing child. He had no fear of the village or villagers and was being taught to love his home and to defend it. He told him stories about his mom and about Jiraiya sensei.

He'd been very sad to learn that Whirlpool had been destroyed. Tragically Kushina's entire clan had been wiped out except for one uncle. He'd offered the man a place in his home but he had written just once to state his place was in Whirlpool. It was a shame, but since Whirlpool was now a province of Earth country it would not be safe to let Naruto visit him.

As the fireworks began Naruto ran to his side to watch them together.

"Hey daddy! Are these really for me?!" Naruto asked excitedly.

Smiling he picked his son up and put him on his shoulder. "They sure on son, happy birthday!"

"Yay!"

Minato was happy to see that honest joy. Despite all the tragedies of the past he still hoped the future might be bright and wondrous.


	3. First day

Minato was looking at the pile of paperwork on his desk. _I think if I had really truly known how much paperwork was involved in this I would have let Orochimaru have this job. Well, maybe not but I would have been tempted. _Thinking about Orochimaru made him grimace. Even after all these years they _still _had no idea where he was or what he was doing. Minato was certain that hoping he might have died somehow was nothing but wishful thinking. _We'll probably only find him when he wants to be found, and that's likely to be a disaster. _One of the unexpected consequences of Jiraiya's death had been the crippling of Konoha's spy network. During his many journeys Konoha's spymaster seemed to have recruited agents in nearly every corner of the elemental lands. But for reasons of security he had never committed anything to paper, preferring instead to rely on his keen memory.

That had certainly provided an extra layer of security. But with his death all the agents he had personally recruited had no way and no one to pass on their information to. So all those sources were lost. Five years after his death they were still rebuilding their spy network. No doubt they had missed a great deal that might have been useful, but they could do nothing about that.

The door to his office opened without a knock and a blond hurricane rushed in with a loud squeal. "Daddy!" Naruto shouted and ran over to his desk.

Smiling Minato scooped up his son and planted him on his lap. "Come to visit me today Naruto?"

"Yeah!" He said excitedly.

"Please forgive me Naruto-sama," Kaede entered and gave him a quick bow in apology. "He insisted on seeing you today."

"No problem," Minato said with a grin. "You know I don't mind, he can see me whenever he wants." He looked at Naruto and gave the boy a conspiratorial wink. "It gives me an excuse not to work." The little boy began to laugh.

"Sounds like you're starting to get kind of lazy sensei." An ANBU with wild silver hair and a dog mask entered as well.

Minato snorted. "It's not laziness it's boredom. You try doing paperwork eight hours a day."

Kakashi seemed to shudder. "I think I'd rather try and assassinate the Tsuchikage."

Minato nodded his agreement. "So how is Naruto's training going?" Though only five he had been studying taijutsu and basic weapons for over a year now. Kakashi had volunteered to instruct him between missions for the black ops. When Kakashi was away Minato would usually train Naruto with a shadow clone.

"Not bad," Kakashi announced. "As usual he has boundless energy and isn't afraid to try anything. Of course his attacks are too aggressive and sloppy most of the time."

"Hey!" Naruto said with a pout. "My attacks are good sensei!"

"For a five year old they are," Kakashi agreed pleasantly. "But not for the next Hokage."

Naruto got a stubborn look on his face. "I am going to be the next Hokage! And I'm going to be the best Hokage ever! I'm going to protect and take care of the village just like my daddy!"

Kakashi tilted his head a bit and had a huge smile beneath his mask. "Then you'll need to improve your fighting style, your dad was never sloppy."

"You never saw me when I was five," Minato said with amusement. He looked at his son with a mix of pride and amusement. He'd explained to him once what it meant when people called him Hokage.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Daddy, what's a Hokage?"

"Well son, the Hokage is the strongest ninja in the village, the one chosen to lead. It is his job to protect and guide the village and the people who live here."

Naruto had looked up at him with wide eyes. "So you protect everyone and keep them safe?"

Minato nodded. "I try to; though protecting the village sometimes requires sacrifices." He thought not only of Jiraiya but of other lesser known ninja who had given their lives in service to Konoha.

"That's what I'm going to do!" Naruto shouted. "I'm going to be Hokage and protect everyone! And I'll be the best Hokage ever!"

"That's a fine goal son, but being Hokage is very hard and requires a lot of sacrifices. You don't only have to be the best ninja in the village. You also have to be prepared to do whatever the village requires."

"That's what I'll do!" Naruto said with absolute confidence.

Minato looked at his son and knew there was no way he could understand just what being Hokage _truly _meant. The sacrifices it required. But for now…

"If that's what you want then I'll help you get there."

"Really daddy?"

"Of course," he smiled and patted his son's head. "After all, parents always believe in their children."

XXXXXXXXXX

Minato wondered if Naruto would still want this once he got older and came to understand the price that the title came with it.

He stood up and put Naruto up on his shoulders. "It's about lunch time; let's go get something to eat."

"Ramen!" Naruto said immediately.

"No ramen," Kaede said sternly. "It's not healthy to eat that too often."

"**Awww,**" Naruto and Minato said in the same breath.

XXXXXXXXXX

**Three Years Later**

"Son are you _sure _you want to wear that?" Minato grinned.

"Absolutely! This way people will all know who I am."

"Naruto, you don't have to worry about being anonymous in this village."

His son had on black pants with a black shirt with a grey trench coat. On the back of the trench coat Naruto had written in ink, 'Future Hokage.' Naruto had actually asked if he could have a coat just like the one his father wore, but Minato had thought that a little much.

"Well come on son, let's go."

Naruto looked up at his father and nodded. "Thanks for bringing me dad."

"I'm afraid I can't do this all the time, but since this is your first day I'll make an exception."

Outside the Namikaze gate Hyuuga Hinata waited nervously with her escort. Having grown up playing with Naruto and with her, 'big brother' Neji she was eager to begin this new experience beside him. Having always had Naruto and Neji cheering for her and believing in her she had grown strong and confident. Sparring and training with the two of them she had pushed herself hard to keep up. Her father was not one to offer excessive praise, but he felt she would be a, 'fine clan head' one day.

_That's if I'm eligible to be clan head, I won't be if I marry into another clan. _Of course she already knew exactly who it was she wanted to marry. Picturing herself with Naruto-kun she felt her face blush. She struggled to get that under control; she was a Hyuuga and was supposed to always present a dignified face to the world. She still had memories of her mother who had passed away. Hinata wanted to be just like her, a beautiful, intelligent, capable woman who was always polite and well mannered, but never ever superior. She was dressed in a white robe that was traditional for her clan and like the one her father wore. When she saw Naruto and his father appear she managed not to blush. She offered a slight bow at their approach.

"Good morning Minato-san, good morning Naruto-kun."

"Good morning Hinata," Minato greeted.

"Hey Hinata-chan! What do you think of my outfit?" He actually did a twirl for her to show it off.

She of course spotted the writing on the back. "Naruto-kun, I think you need more modesty."

"What do you mean Hinata-chan?" He sounded upset. "I have more modesty than anybody!"

Hinata put a hand over her mouth and giggled. She also made a mental note to explain to him later just what modesty meant.

Kurenai had never met the Hokage before and bowed to him nervously. "Good morning Hokage-sama!"

He returned her bow. "And good morning to you Yuhi Kurenai." Kurenai felt deeply honored that he would not only return her bow but had known her name. "Now let's get going, we wouldn't want the kids late on their very first day to the academy."

Hinata quickly slid her arm into Naruto's so that they would walk arm in arm. This was how they normally walked together. For Naruto it was simply a habit that he shared with the girl he was closest to. For her it was the proper way to walk with someone who was your significant other. She understood that Naruto did not see her as anything other than a friend. But she didn't mind so long as he didn't see any other girl that way either. That thought made her frown. _I wonder if __**she **__will be in our class._

As they walked through the streets a two man ANBU squad followed silently from the roof tops. Not that it seemed likely that there would be trouble. As the croup walked along people shouted and bowed cried out wishes for long life and health. Wherever Minato went in the village he was greeted with adoration. The people of Konoha saw him not simply as their ruler but as their hero.

Naruto saw how people looked at his father. The love that was there whenever he went out. That was what he wanted. He wanted the people to love him as they loved his father.

XXXXXXXXXX

Ino was pacing in the courtyard. "Where is he?"

Sakura looked on with annoyance. "It's still early you're worried over nothing. Why is this such a big deal anyway? You saw him just a couple days ago!"

"This is the first day of our ninja careers! Well, it is for him and me, you'll probably drop out."

"Hey!" Sakura shouted angrily.

"But it's really important how we begin our time here together! I want him to see me for the amazing girl I am!"

"I'd give up on that Ino," a lazy voice said from behind her. "At least until you learn how to perform a henge."

"Shut up you lazy jerk!" Ino smacked Shikamaru in the back of the head to reinforce how she felt.

"But why are you so worried?" Chouji asked between handfuls of chips. "We're all good friends."

That was true. Kaede would take Naruto to the park regularly to play with other children. They had all known each other for what seemed like forever. They'd all been to each other's birthday parties and gotten to know each other well. As friends.

"I don't want Naruto-kun to see me as just a play mate anymore. I want him to see the real me."

Shikamaru lifted one eyebrow. "Won't that make him want to stay away from you?"

"Shut up!" She bopped him on the head and Shika went down.

As he was slowly getting up they all heard a commotion. Looking around Ino spotted the Hokage along with his son and another ninja she hadn't seen before. Naruto was here, and he had _her _clinging to him.

Most of the children had never met the Hokage before so they crowded around him pleading for his attention. Meanwhile Naruto had spotted them and come over to say hi. As they approached Ino glared at her rival. Hinata stared right back at her and held on to Naruto just a little tighter.

"Hey Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, Chouji, and… Shikamaru are you o.k.?"

"Fine," he said as he rubbed the top of his head. "I was just attacked by a harpy; I'm used to it though."

"Huh?"

Ino sent him a dangerous look.

"Nothing," Shikamaru muttered.

"Oh Naruto-kun!" Ino squealed. "I just love your outfit, especially the coat. I love your self confidence!"

"Thanks," Naruto smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "Hinata-chan thinks I need to be more modest."

"Well what does she know?" Ino said gleefully.

"I know how to tell Naruto-kun my honest opinion rather than just spewing whatever I think he wants to hear," Hinata said coolly.

Ino stared at her. "I just like showing him I support him."

Hinata stared back placidly. "I like giving him help when I think he needs it."

Blue eyes were locked onto lavender ones with neither about to look away.

Naruto sighed. "I wish you two would learn to get along. Come on Hinata-chan let's head in."

"Yes Naruto-kun," Hinata replied and went in with him arm in arm as Ino was forced to watch.

Inside the classroom a certain dark haired boy was already seated. He watched as Naruto entered with Hinata, followed shortly by his playmates Sakura, Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru. The two of them had never met but he knew Naruto by sight, as did everyone else in the village.

"_You must be better than him Sasuke!"_ His father had told him. _"I want you to show the village the strength of our clan by being his superior!"_

As Naruto walked past Sasuke picked his moment and spoke up. "So you're the Kyuubi?"

Naruto froze, and everyone else looked at him and at Sasuke nervously. Naruto slowly turned to look at the other boy. "No, I'm the Kyuubi's jailer." He had always known what was inside of him, it was no secret. Since being little his father had told him the story of the heroic Jiraiya and of the events of that night. Jiraiya had made a sacrifice to save not only the village but his dad. That was what had made him a hero. Now he had to make a sacrifice to protect everyone just like Jiraiya had, which meant he was a hero too. His father had always made that point very clear to him. As such Naruto had never once seen anything wrong or shameful about being the Kyuubi's container. On the contrary, he took pride in knowing what he was doing to protect everyone.

"My dad didn't agree with the decision the Hokage made."

Naruto slowly grinned at him. "I guess that means you're Uchiha Sasuke right? My dad told me what your dad thought."

"You're just lucky your father was the Hokage, otherwise you wouldn't be here now."

"Is that supposed to mean if some other baby had been used he would have had him killed? You really don't know my father do you?"

"Come on Naruto, let's take our seats." Hinata encouraged and was able to lead him up the steps and past the other boy.

The others went as well except for Sakura who held back a bit. "That was mean Sasuke-kun," she said quietly.

He shrugged. "It was the truth."

Looking a little sad Sakura went off to find a seat near her friends.

XXXXXXXXXX

Unknown to the children both Iruka and Mizuki had witnessed the small altercation. "I think this is going to be a long four years," Iruka sighed.

Mizuki did not disagree.


	4. The Uchiha

They were a week into their second semester at the academy and Sakura was again wondering if she really belonged. Her grades for the first semester had been disappointing. More than any other institution in Konoha the academy was obsessed with ranks and standings. The students were constantly reminded that they were all in competition. And the competition was on completely even ground, clans and social status had nothing to do with it. And yet…

She glanced down the lunch table at Naruto. As always Hinata was sitting in his right and Ino was on his left. The two girls were fierce rivals for his attention. Even though Naruto got no special privileges for being the Hokage's son he was still head and shoulders above everyone else in the class. He was number one in academics as well as in physical training. Half their training involved physical activity and every Friday there would be spars. Every student had to fight every other, boys fought against girls and friends fought each other as well. Every match had to be fought to a conclusion with someone winning and someone losing. Mizuki-sesnei would get very upset if he suspected anyone holding back. The spars were viewed as a good way to judge the potential fighting ability of the students.

So far Naruto was undefeated; his record was a perfect 87 and 0. She'd faced him three times and he had knocked her unconscious in less than ten seconds each time. He always took care not to hurt her, but she understood that in real battle she would be killed quickly. Her record in the spars was 15 and 72, putting her near the bottom. Fortunately she had a sharp mind and was near the top in academics. But with her poor showing in spars as well as in weapons training and physical endurance her class rank had been 17 out of 30. She was struggling just to stay in the middle of the pack.

She was painfully aware that of her group of friends she was the only one who was not from a ninja clan. Along with Naruto, Hinata with her gentle fist was 79 and 8 and clearly the strongest girl in class. Her class rank was 3. (All the ranks were posted on a bulletin board to help encourage competition.) People were all saying she was a powerful Hyuugas just like her cousin Neji who was in the class one year ahead. Neji sometimes joined them for lunch, he Hinata and Naruto seemed very close.

Then there was Ino. Her class rank was 7. Her fighting style was nowhere near as advanced as Hinata's but she had a toughness to her that Sakura knew she lacked. Chouji was 18, one spot below her, but she got the sense that his problem was a lack of killer instinct rather than a real lack of talent. Shikamaru was 29 out of 30 and didn't seem to care; of all the students he had the least motivation and energy. Yet even he seemed to do well when he tried a little.

All of them were from Konoha's clans and she wondered if she belonged with them. Everyone knew she was Ino's tag along. Ino had found her crying and taken pity on her and brought into the circle of her friends. But even though Ino liked her and was a friend she never pretended to see her as any sort of rival like she did Hinata. Sakura wondered why she tried so hard if she was never going to be anything but the weak tag along.

"Is something wrong Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked. "You seem kind of down."

"Oh she's probably just upset because Sasuke doesn't even know she's alive." Ino said.

"Shut up!" Sakura snapped. "That's not so!"

"Oh who are you trying to kid?" Ino asked. "Everyone knows you like him, even though he has zero interest in you."

"There's nothing wrong with liking someone Sakura-chan," Hinata put in. "If you like Sasuke you shouldn't give up on him even if he doesn't realize your feelings." She gave Naruto half a glance.

"That's right Sakura-chan, even if he is a jerk it's cool if you like him." Naruto said.

"That's not nice Naruto-kun," Hinata chided.

"What?" He asked questioningly. "I'm being supportive."

Sakura tuned out the rest of the conversation as Ino started trying to one up Hinata as she usually did. She looked across the cafeteria to where Sasuke was sitting with a couple other students. Even if he and Naruto did not get along she still liked him. She liked his smile and his confidence, she didn't know why but he had always been the boy she liked. He was ranked number 2 and saw himself as Naruto's rival. Naruto saw him as an annoyance. Which only made Sasuke that much more furious. As for Sasuke not knowing her feelings…

Well her friends had that much wrong, he did know about them.

XXXXXXXXXX

**Flashback**

She had caught him alone on his way back from class one day and mustered up the courage to tell him how she really felt.

"Sasuke-kun, I really like you! Can we please be friends?"

He had stopped and he had looked at her. She had known enough to recognize the look in his eyes as pity. "I'm very sorry Sakura, but you're just not good enough." And then he had walked away.

With just those handful of words all her self doubt came crashing down on her. Maybe she really wasn't good enough.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I'm going to quit," she said in a small voice.

"Wha… what did you say?" Ino asked suddenly startled out of her usual banter with Hinata.

"I said I'm going to quit," Sakura spoke in a more forceful tone. "Why should I continue when it's obvious I'm never going to be anything but a weakling?"

"But you're not weak Sakura-chan," Hinata insisted. "You can't just give up."

"Mousey is right!" Ino said earning a glare from Hinata. "Even if you are weak you can't just give up!"

"That's right!" Chouji said between bites.

"It would be really troublesome if we had to find a new friend," Shikamaru added.

"It doesn't matter!" Sakura said. "I'm a weakling! What's the use when I'm so weak?"

"If you don't want to be weak then do something about it," Naruto said.

"That's easy for you to say Naruto, you're already strong." She said.

"Sakura-chan, how do you think I _got _strong? I had to work at it, When I go home I train and I train on weekends." Naruto told her. "If you want to be strong you have to make a commitment and work. There are no short cuts."

"Or you can be lazy and not care," Shikamaru offered.

Hinata ignored him and spoke up. "Naruto-kun is right; my fighting ability is the result of endless hours of hard training and sparring."

"But you have the byakugan, you have a blood line."

"My byakugan would not help me if I were not well trained in gentle fist, without my training I would not be able to crush Ino the way I do." (Hinata was 3 and 0, all the spars ending in under a minute.)

"Hey!" Ino snapped.

"I don't have a blood line," Naruto said. "And my huge chakra reserves aren't any use while I use taijutsu. My fighting skill is from nothing but hard work and training." He gave her a big smile. "Why don't you come and train with me, I guarantee me and my dad can help you get strong."

She stared at him. "You'd let me train with your father the Lord Hokage? The strongest ninja in the history of the village?"

"Sure Sakura-chan," he said easily. "I know dad won't mind if it's to help a friend."

"O… o.k., if it's really all right." She was suddenly feeling a lot better about herself.

XXXXXXXXXX

Just as class was winding down an ANBU came and had a whispered conversation with Iruka-sensei.

"What?" Iruka said in surprise.

The ANBU whispered some more and Iruka slowly nodded. The ANBU then left and Iruka turned to the class.

"Class, we're going to do some special training today."

"Is this going to be quick?" Shikamaru spoke up. "Class is over in twenty minutes."

"Ah, actually all the students will be staying in the academy overnight."

"What?"

"Did Iruka just say?"

"I'll miss dinner!"

"Mom will kill me!"

The students were all muttering confused. Iruka waved his hands about until they finally quieted. "There's no need for any of you to worry, all your families are being informed about the extended training session. We'll be providing all of you sleeping bags and field rations. It'll be a taste of what ninja do in the field while on a real mission." The students were still muttering. "Also, since you'll be here all night there will be no class tomorrow."

The idea of no class improved some of the outlooks. The students began to think it might be sort of fun.

"I think something bad is going on," Naruto said quietly.

"What do you mean Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

Naruto looked at her. Though still a child his dad had taught him about looking underneath the underneath. The key was to really pay attention to the clues around you and to think about them logically. He leaned close to Hinata and whispered to her.

"This wasn't planned Hinata-chan. This, 'training session' wasn't the teachers' idea. That ANBU came here to pass on orders that the students be kept here over night."

"Why would they do that?" Hinata asked.

Naruto shrugged. "No idea, except something bad is going to happen and they want to keep us all safe."

XXXXXXXXXX

Fugaku was pleased to see well over a hundred ninja present. He would have been even happier if the only people missing were not Itachi and his best friend Shisui who he had asked to watch him. His oldest son had been acting a bit erratically lately and Fugaku was growing concerned. But except for them _every _Uchiha ninja active or retired was present for this final meeting.

"As all of you know," Fugaku spoke. "It is well past the time that our clan took what was rightfully ours."

There was loud applause and shouts of agreement.

That was when the doors of the hall were kicked down. The Uchihas all jumped to their feet as ANBU poured in with weapons at the ready. They quickly found themselves surrounded by more than three hundred ANBU.

"What is rightfully yours?" An angry voice called from the main doorway. In strode the Yondaime. He wasn't in his ceremonial robes, he had on the familiar trench coat, dark pants, and Jonin vest that he wore to battle. "And do you think the whole village is rightfully yours?"

"Hokage-sama, what… what is the meaning of this?"

"Please don't bother to play the innocent Fugaku," Minato told him. "I know about your little plot. Even as we speak your allies are being arrested. They'll stand trial and be executed. But I can't take that risk with you Uchiha, that would be too dangerous."

"What is it you intend to do?" Fugaku asked.

"I had actually considered killing the entire adult population in the Uchiha compound and wiping out the clan except for the children. However, I'll spare the civilians even though they knew about the plot. They're no threat after all. But I will strip the Uchiha of clan status for this, and your name will be a disgrace. As for all of you ninja, I sentence you to death for conspiracy to commit treason and murder. Sentence to be carried out immediately."

The ANBU let fly with hundreds of trikunai. These all missed as the Uchiha ninja were able to dodge them with ease. But they were not meant to kill, only to fill the hall with seals.

The Yondaime would do the killing.

"**Hiraishin no Jutsu." **He vanished in a yellow flash and the traitors in the hall began to die.

It was over in seconds.

XXXXXXXXXX

On the roof of a nearby building an ANBU with a raven's mask waited in silence. When he saw his Hokage appeared before him drenched in blood he knew.

"It's over Itachi, thanks to you."

"I take no pride in this," Itachi replied. The thought he had caused so many of his kin to be slaughtered sickened him. He had even been forced to kill his best friend in order to alert the Hokage.

"I didn't think you would," Minato replied. "But you did what you had to and for that you have my thanks."

"You will honor your word Hokage-sama?" Itachi asked. "The civilians and students will be spared? My mother, my brother, my cousin?"

"I was never one for pointless slaughter Itachi." Minato replied. "No one else has to die, but the entire clan will be punished for this. I will strip away clan status and confiscate all the lands that the first Hokage gave the Uchiha. I expect come tomorrow the Uchiha will be hated and despised."

Itachi could only nod. "Given what my father attempted that seems only fitting. But I thank you for sparing those you could Hokage-sama."

XXXXXXXXXX

In the following days the truth of what had happened became known. The events of that night would become known not as the Uchiha massacre, but as the Uchiha revolt. And in the village of Konoha the name Uchiha became synonymous with traitor.


	5. Son of traitors

**Author's Note: **For all of you who have read my original story, 'A Mother's Love' the character of Gabrella is now called Hisa. Also I am aware that in cannon his mother is a Jonin, but in my story Mikoto is a civilian. Also in this story Itachi has **not **been contacted by Madara and does not know of his existence.

XXXXXXXXXX

A week had passed since that night. And in that short time Sasuke had watched his whole world come crashing down. Everything he had ever believed was suddenly a lie.

XXXXXXXXXX

**Flashback**

"I don't believe you!" Sasuke screamed. Along with his mother and older brother his eleven year old cousin Hisa was there too. She was quietly sobbing, having lost her father she was now an orphan. His mom had invited her to come stay with them.

"It is true Sasuke," Itachi said calmly. He was still dressed in his ANBU uniform. "Father was planning a coup attempt. Every adult in the clan ninja and civilian knew about it. That is the reason father and the others were killed."

"It's true," Mikoto said softly and lowered her head in shame. "Your father felt our clan should rule the village and so he plotted treason. We intended to betray the village, to our eternal shame."

Sasuke stared at his broken mother. He might call his brother a liar, but he couldn't believe kaasan would ever lie about something like this. "Father… was a traitor?" His father was his role model. He represented everything that was just and noble about their great clan.

"Everyone was a traitor Sasuke," Itachi said coldly. "Had you been a few years older you would have been involved as well."

"Why are you alive aniki?" Sasuke demanded. "Father and uncle and every other ninja of the clan are dead except for you. How come?"

As he asked that Mikoto began to silently weep.

"I am alive because I was the one to inform the Hokage of father's plot." Itachi replied coolly.

Sasuke gasped and pointed an accusing finger at his revered older brother. "You betrayed father and the clan? You're a traitor!"

Itachi answered the accusation with a passionless stare. "No, I kept my oath to my Hokage and my village by doing my duty as a leaf ninja and an ANBU. I discovered a treasonous plot and reported it. It is _only _because I was loyal that the Hokage agreed to spare the civilian adults, though they are just as guilty as the ninja."

"What are you _proud _of what you did?" Sasuke accused.

"No, I take no satisfaction in anything that has happened. But I did what was right, my conscience is clean Sasuke."

Sasuke didn't know what to say. All his life he had admired his older brother and longed to win his father's approval. Now father was dead, killed by the Hokage's own hand. His death a disgraceful one. And his brother was the one who had caused it all.

"You shouldn't have said anything!" Sasuke snapped. "You should have been loyal to father and to the clan!"

"Sasuke, don't say that!" Mikoto looked nervously between her two sons.

"Do you realize Sasuke that you have just committed treason?" Itachi said as calm as always.

"Maybe you should kill me then? That is your duty right?"

Itachi looked at him coldly. "I will forget what you said this once, but _never _say anything like that again." He turned around and left the room.

"Sasuke, I beg you, don't do anything to cause trouble." His mother pleaded. "I couldn't bear to lose you too."

Sasuke looked at her but said nothing.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke answered when there was a knock at the door. He frowned to see three ANBU standing there. "What the hell do you want?"

"Watch your mouth traitor," one of the ANBU answered. "Except for Itachi every last one of you Uchiha are scum."

Sasuke gaped at him. No one had _ever _talked to him like that. "Do you know who I am?!" Sasuke said angrily.

"Yeah, you're a traitor and the son of traitors." The ANBU tossed a letter at him from a stack he had in his hands. "Give that to your mother, you've been served." The ANBU then proceeded to the next house.

XXXXXXXXXX

Mikoto was reading the letter the ANBU had delivered. "It's a formal notice that we no longer own this house or any other property in the compound. If we want to keep living here we will have to start paying rent."

"They can't do that! My great grandfather built this house! It's been ours for as long as there's been a village!"

"The Hokage can do whatever he wants son," Mikoto explained patiently. "All the land in the compound was given to the clan on condition we live in the village and serve it faithfully. When we broke our part of that bargain we lost all claim to this land." She sighed. "Not only that, we are no longer a clan in the eyes of the village, we will no longer have our seat on the Council or our special rights. All the funds in the clan treasury have also been confiscated as punishment."

"So they say our house isn't ours and then they rob us too?" Sasuke said furiously. "The Hokage has no right to do any of this!"

"He does son," Mikoto told him. "Son, we are not being wrongfully persecuted. I know you don't want to hear this but the fact is we _are _guilty. By law the Hokage would have been within his rights to have killed everyone who knew of the plot and failed to report it. That includes me and all your aunts and uncles who are still alive. Anything the Hokage does short of that is a mercy no matter how it seems."

"I won't accept that!"

"You're going to have to Sasuke," Mikoto told him gently. "Part of being an adult is seeing the world as it is and not as we would like it to be."

XXXXXXXXXX

The bodies of those killed in the revolt were returned to the families. There was a quiet and solemn memorial service attended only by family members. Friends of the clan did not want to be seen mourning the deaths of traitors.

XXXXXXXXXX

Mikoto had decided it would be best to keep Sasuke and Hisa home from school for a week to let some of the passions cool down on both sides. While he was home he heard some explosions coming from nearby.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke joined a small crowd at the edge of the compound. They were watching a group of twenty ninja working on the wall that separated the Uchiha compound from the rest of the village. Most of them just made sure to keep people a safe distance as two others placed a few explosive notes along the base of the wall.

The two of them backed away. "Clear!" One shouted once they were a safe distance.

The other nodded. "Fire in the hole!" He shouted.

The notes then went off with a carefully controlled explosion. A section of the wall about fifteen feet long blew up and was reduced to rubble.

"What's going on here?" Sasuke demanded. "What do you think you're doing?"

One of the ninja dealing with keeping people a safe distance looked at him dismissively. "It's the Hokage's orders; this wall is to come down immediately. It's about time you damn Uchihas learned you're part of the village and not separate from it.

"You can't do this! You have no right!" Sasuke tried to push his way past. He was completely surprised when a fist smashed his face. He found himself on the ground with a bloody nose.

"You damn Uchihas and your damn rights!" The ninja shouted furiously. "It's time you learn that you're rights aren't shit anymore! You damn pack of traitors are just lucky the Hokage is as merciful as he is. Get it through those thick skulls you're not on top anymore! Now get out of here before I arrest you and haul your ass in!"

Sasuke got up to his feet. The taste of blood and bitter humiliation were in his mouth. As he walked back to the crowd people quickly gathered around to help him and tell him they were proud of his courage. The fact that at least his clan still cared for him was his only consolation.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Where are you going scum?"

"You filthy pig!"

"Dirty traitor!"

Sasuke was walking to class after a week. Before this day he had always received greetings and polite nods from the people along the way. Sometimes grocers or bakers would even come up to him with a tasty treat. He had never thought twice about it, he had just assumed that was how things were supposed to be. Now those very same people were pouring their abuse at him.

His mother had tried to get him to wear a different set of clothes and to go to the academy by a different route. He'd refused. He was Uchiha Sasuke, proud son of Uchiha Fugaku and he was damned if he would pretend to be anything less. He had put on his shorts and dark blue jacket and left the now wall less compound with his head held high. Walking from his house through the compound everything had been normal. His clansmen had all wished him well and told him how proud they all were of him.

But the moment he left the compound everything changed. Even at the shouts of abuse he held his head high and refused to hurry. He walked at his usual pace even when small rocks or pieces of rotted fruit were thrown at him. His cousin had worn different clothing and left twenty minutes early by a different route. He didn't blame her for that. If she wanted to keep a low profile he would not hold it against her. After all, now more than ever all the Uchiha needed to stick together.

XXXXXXXXXX

When he reached the academy his head was still unbowed and his face was locked into a grim visage. His jacket and shorts were covered with stains from things thrown at him but he refused to acknowledge any of it.

As he entered the courtyard though he saw the way the kids were looking at him. Obviously the opinions of their parents had been passed along.

"Well look what we have here, a dirty traitor!" A fourth year student Sasuke didn't know said.

Almost as if by magic Sasuke was surrounded by a menacing crowd of older students. Sasuke looked directly at the loud mouth boy in front of him, ignoring all the others. "Get out of my way," he said calmly.

The boy looked unbelieving. "What did you just say to me traitor?"

"I said get out of my way," Sasuke replied.

"Will you listen to the all mighty Uchiha?" The boy mocked. "What are you going to do if I don't get out of your way?"

"I'll just have to go through you," Sasuke replied and readied himself. There was no way he could deal with all of them but the jerk in front of him was going to regret what he'd said.

Before the older boy could reply he was shoved to the side. "Is there a problem here?" Naruto asked coldly. Standing right behind him were Hinata and Neji, both had the byakugan active and were looking _very _intimidating. "Sasuke is a student and has every right to be here."

Seeing who it was the older boys all quickly nodded their agreement and dispersed.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke. "You o.k.?"

"I didn't need your help," Sasuke answered tightly.

"That's not how it looked to us." Neji said with a grin.

Sasuke ignored him and instead focused on Naruto. "I don't need any help from the son of the man who killed my father."

Naruto felt his jaw tighten. "What my dad did was justice. I'm sorry for your loss Sasuke, but I don't apologize for it."

Sasuke glared at him murderously. "I'm going to surpass you, and when I do I'll show everyone in this village just how great my clan is."

"What clan?" Neji said innocently.

"Neji!" Hinata chided.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

To Sasuke's utter irritation Naruto _grinned _at him. "Good, do your absolute best!"

Angrily Sasuke walked straight ahead forcing Naruto to step out of his way.

"Pleasant guy," Neji said.

"He has suffered a lot it can't be easy for him." Hinata said. She looked nervously over at Naruto. "I think he really hates you Naruto. I felt killer intent from him just now."

"Yeah so did I," Naruto said. "But what can I do about it? I mean if I try and be friends with him it will probably only make him hate me more. At least if he only hates me it will help him focus and deal with things. Honestly, I feel sorry for him."

Hinata sighed. The whole situation was a mess. They would have to deal with it as best they could.


	6. Last day

Sakura tripped and fell. Lying on the dirt trail she panted and struggled to get up. She was drenched in sweat and completely wiped out. _Ugh! The others are having no problem! Am I really so much weaker?_

"Are you all right Sakura?" Naruto asked. When he had noticed she wasn't with them he had come back to check on her.

And when he'd turned around the others had too. "Let me help you up Sakura-chan," Hinata said with a gentle smile and got her back to her feet.

"If you wanted to take a nap you should have said so," Neji said with a smirk.

When the Hokage came to check on her she looked down feeling embarrassed. It was bad enough coming off as weak in front of her teammates but doing so in front of the great Yellow Flash was humiliating.

The Hokage squatted down to put himself at eye level with her. He was dressed in plain grey sweats and had an easy friendly smile. He saw the way she was breathing hard and how her legs trembled. "How are you feeling Sakura?"

"I'm fine Hokage-sama! I'm very sorry for interrupting the work out!"

Laughing a bit he reached out and patted her head. "No problem, I think you've done enough for today though." He looked at his son and the other children, the three of them often trained together. "Why don't you go on and I'll bring Sakura back to the house."

"O.k. dad," Naruto said and bolted. "Race you to the practice ground!"

"Cheater!" Neji shouted and ran after him.

Hinata shook her head and chased after both of them.

Once they were out of sight he picked up Sakura in his arms and began carrying her back to the mansion. "You rest for awhile, have some water and rehydrate."

She blushed. The Hokage of Konoha was carrying her and telling her to rest! "I am so sorry Hokage-sama! I shouldn't have come here!"

He looked at the little girl. "All right, first there's no need for you to address me as Hokage right now. Do I look like I'm wearing my robes? Second, there's no need to be upset. You are more than welcome here and you are not causing me any trouble at all. After all," he gave her a reassuring grin. "My job is to take care of all the people in this village, so helping you is no problem. Naruto wants to help you become a great ninja and so do I."

"But I can't keep up with them!" She felt on the verge of tears.

"That's not the point Sakura," he told her quietly. "The point is to always do your best. Naruto, Neji, and Hinata have been doing this level of physical training for years now. You shouldn't compare yourself to them, that's not a fair comparison. It would be like trying to compare your abilities to mine or any other ninja's."

"I… I guess that makes sense."

He nodded approvingly. "Instead compare where you are now to where you were before. Have you improved yourself? That is the only comparison that you need to worry about."

"But… I'm slowing everyone down."

"This isn't combat Sakura," he told her kindly. "It's training. The point is to help everyone get stronger. You aren't holding anyone back I promise. Just do the best you can and I'll help you as much as I can. How's that sound?"

She slowly nodded. "I promise to do my best Hokage-sama."

XXXXXXXXXX

Over time Sakura did begin to improve. Even Ino started to notice.

Sasuke also improved. He worked very hard to build up his skills and physical strength. He was consumed by the single minded desire to get stronger. But no matter how hard he worked he could not seem to close the gap between himself and Naruto. He lost every spar against him. He could beat everyone else, including Hinata, but not Naruto. No matter how he worked at it he remained number two.

While in class he deliberately separated himself from his classmates. He insisted on wearing the same blue jacket with the large Uchiha symbol emblazoned on it. No matter how much anger or abuse it brought down on his head he refused to change. He kept his pride in his name and family and the more people condemned the stronger he held on to it. He isolated himself from everyone except his family members.

In school everyone admired and respected his skills, but no one really liked him anymore.

Except for one person.

XXXXXXXXXX

As he was heading home Sasuke spotted Sakura there waiting for him.

"What do you want Sakura?" He did not stop to talk to her but continued on his way.

She was forced to fall into step beside him. "My birthday is next Wednesday, would you like to come?" She asked him hopefully.

"No," he answered and kept walking.

She followed him refusing to just give up. She was nothing if not persistent. "It'll be a lot of fun! There's going to be music and dancing and party games. And… and you don't have to bring me a present if you don't want to."

Sasuke thought of something and stopped. "O.k."

"Really?!" She said excitedly. She hadn't thought he would ever say yes. She'd been trying to get him to be friends with her but every effort always got rejected.

"But there's one condition," he told her.

"Anything Saskue!"

"You can't invite Naruto."

"What… what do you mean?"

"I mean just what I said, I'll come but only if you don't invite Naruto."

"But he's a close friend of mine! It's thanks to training with him that I've gotten so much stronger!" (In her class she was now ranked eighth, one spot behind Ino. She was considered the third strongest girl in class.) "I've already invited him and he's said yes!"

"Then uninvite him," Sasuke said coldly.

Sakura looked at him with sad eyes. "I can't do that. I **won't **do that."

"Hn, then I guess I won't be coming to your dumb party." He began to walk away.

"Why do you have to be this way? Naruto doesn't have anything against you!"

"I have something against him," he muttered as he went.

Sakura stood where she was and watched him go.

XXXXXXXXXX

She still cared for him, but after that she stopped asking him to become friends with her. She was not willing to pay the price his friendship would cost.

XXXXXXXXXX

The four years of the academy passed in relative peace. Led by her great Hokage and secure in her alliances Konoha was recognized as the strongest of the great ninja villages and prospered. Clients from all over the elemental lands sought out Leaf ninja for the most difficult and highest paying contracts.

The last day of class finally came.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto entered room 101 where Iruka and Mizuki were both seated behind a desk covered in leaf hitai-ites.

"Hello Naruto," Iruka said pleasantly. "This is the final part of the graduation test. Please make three clones for us."

"Hai sensei," he ran through the hand signs with barely a thought. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." **With a puff of smoke three copies of him appeared.

Mizuki nodded and wrote something down on a clipboard. "Perfect, as I would expect from our Rookie of the Year."

Iruka nodded, the test was really just a formality. Only a very weak ninja could fail it. "Congratulations Naruto! You are now officially a Genin and an adult of this village. Please take a hitai-ite."

Naruto eagerly snatched one up and tied it around his forehead. He then turned to his two teachers and bowed to each of them. "Thank you for all your help and instruction, Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-sensei."

Both instructors nodded in return. "Please send Hinata in next." Iruka instructed.

When Naruto returned to the main classroom people simply nodded to him. A few called congratulations. It was not that big a deal as everyone had known he would pass easily.

"You're up Hinata," he called.

"O.k.," she got up and they passed. "Congratulations on passing Naruto." Before he knew it she leaned up and planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Wha…" he stared at his best friend wondering why she had just done that.

"Hey!" Ino barked. "What's the big idea kissing him?"

"What?" Hinata said innocently. "It's just a nice way to say, 'congratulations.' You don't mind do you Naruto-kun?"

"Ah, no of course not."

"By the way Naruto-kun, you're blushing." Hinata hurried past him with a happy smile planted on her face.

XXXXXXXXXX

When class let out many of the parents were outside waiting to congratulate their children. Among them were Hiashi and the Hokage in his robes of state.

Hiashi looked at his daughter. She was dressed in her usual all black outfit with her hitai-ite around her neck. "Well done Hinata," Hiashi said. He had on a very slight grin. For him this was a huge emotional display. "I am pleased with you."

"Thank you father," Hinata said with a confident grin. She knew her father was really happy even if he did not like to show it.

"Good going son!" Minato said happily and rubbed the top of his head.

"Thanks dad!" Naruto had a huge smile on his face. "Now I'm one step closer to being Hokage!"

Minato had a good laugh. "Easy son! There's still a long way to go!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Across the courtyard Sasuke looked on as he was with his mom and cousin Hisa. She was a Genin now and had been for three years. She had managed to activate her sharingan about six months ago. Itachi was out of the village on a mission. Sasuke didn't mind as he and his brother were not as close as they had been.

"I am very proud of you son," his mother gave him a kiss on the cheek. He would have preferred she not do that in public but he would never complain and hurt her feelings.

"Thank you mom, that means a lot to me." With his family he was willing to show feelings.

"Nice going Sasuke," Hisa said. "Now we have one more ninja in the family!"

He nodded to her. He really liked Hisa. She had a very different personality from his. She was much more easy going and willing to show her emotions. But unlike his brother she had worked with him and helped him train. And unlike his brother she was no traitor to the clan.

"Thanks Hisa, I'm going to try to work hard and impress the village."

Even now, in a moment that should have been joyous he was not allowed to forget their low station in the village. People kept a safe distance from them, as though afraid what they had might be contagious. He caught some of the looks the adults were sending him and his loved ones.

"Let's go home," he encouraged. "I don't want to be here another minute."

XXXXXXXXXX

Minato and Naruto were both seated at the dinner table with eager looks. Kaede came out of the kitchen with two large steaming bowls on a tray. "Congratulations Naruto on your becoming a ninja, I and the entire staff are very proud of you."

As Kaede set down the bowls they both had the same reaction.

"YAY!! RAMEN!!"

Kaede turned back towards the kitchen with an amused look on her face to get the seconds ready.

XXXXXXXXXX

Having both stuffed themselves with the best ramen in the village Naruto looked at his father.

"So dad. Who's going to be in my squad?"

Minato looked back in innocent surprise. "How would I know?"

Naruto frowned. "Didn't you pick who would be on my team?"

"Of course not son, that's not my job. It falls on the senior instructor to select the squads. Iruka will be the one to decide that."

"What?! You mean you don't know who my team will be? But what if none of my friends are on it! What if Hinata-chan isn't on it?"

"Oh is that important to you?" Minato asked with an inquisitive grin. "Being on a team with Hinata?"

"Sure it is! She's my closest friend!" He thought about it. "You can order Iruka to put her on my team right?"

Minato shook his head. "Naruto, I am _shocked_ you would even suggest that. Is that the sort of thing a Hokage should do? Take advantage of his position just to please his child?"

"But…"

"Naruto, I would _never _order Iruka to place Hinata on your team."

"I see," Naruto put his head down despondently.

Minato managed to keep a smile from appearing on his lips.

XXXXXXXXXX

**Yesterday**

Iruka was not too surprised to be called to the Tower to meet with the Hokage.

"How can I be of service Hokage-sama?" Iruka asked. _As if I didn't already know._

Minato gave the teacher an easy smile. "I'd like to request that Hinata and Naruto be on the same squad."

"Yes Hokage-sama," Iruka answered.

"This isn't an order," he clarified. "I would _never _order you to do something like that. This is just a request from a parent of one of your students."

"I understand Hokage-sama."


	7. The Genin test

Hinata was looking over at him; his hand was tapping the top of the desk in a continuous rapid pace. It was rare to ever see him nervous, Naruto was nothing if not confident.

"Will you relax Naruto-kun? There's nothing to be nervous about."

But I can't help it Hinata-chan!" He told her. "My dad said he has no idea who my teammates will be. What happens if we end up separated?"

"I'm sure that won't happen Naruto," Hinata placed a hand on his to try and reassure him. "My father seems to take it for granted we will be on the same squad."

Naruto looked at her hopefully. "Does your father know what the assignments are?"

"Well… no, but he doesn't think there's any way we won't be together."

Naruto lowered his head to his desk. "I'm doomed."

Grinning Hinata patted her head. She really wasn't worried about it, the Hokage had told her father he couldn't imagine the two of them not working together. That was assurance enough for her. It also made her happy to see how important she was to him.

"Don't worry Naruto," Ino called out. "I'm sure we'll be together!"

Hinata smiled sweetly. "Only in your dreams."

"Hey!"

All the conversations quieted down as Iruka and Mizuki entered the room. Iruka was holding a clip board as he came to stand in front of the class with Mizuki a couple steps behind.

"Well class this is the beginning of your ninja careers! It has been a privilege for both me and for Mizuki-sensei to have taught you all and watched you grow into capable young shinobi. I have no doubt each and every one of you will go on to serve Konoha and make the village proud!" Iruka announced. "I know you're all very anxious so I will read out the assignments. Once that's done you are free to go and have lunch for an hour. Then please return here to meet with your senseis."

Iruka began to announce the teams and their senseis. As each set of names was announced Naruto's hopes and anxieties both rose. Each set of names meant it was more likely he and Hinata would end up together. But until he knew for sure he couldn't relax.

Finally…

"Team seven will be Namikaze Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba."

"Yes!!" Naruto cried out joyously.

"See, I told you there was nothing to worry about," Hinata said.

"Team seven's Jonin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

"All right!" Naruto said happily. "I train with Kakashi all the time this is going to be a breeze!"

Iruka continued on, announcing that Sasuke and Sakura would be on team eight with Shino.

Sakura looked nervously in Sasuke's direction. He didn't show much reaction to the announcement one way or the other. Yuhi Kurenai would be their sensei.

The tenth and final team would be the latest incarnation of the Shika-Ino-Cho alliance. The news did not make Ino happy as she groaned about karma and buried her head in her hands. For the record Shikamaru and Chouji did not look especially happy either.

XXXXXXXXXX

Once they were dismissed for lunch Naruto and Hinata approached Kiba whose little dog was perched on his head.

"Hey Kiba, looks like we're going to be teammates. How about we all get to know one another over some ramen? It'll be my treat."

Akamaru barked his approval and he nodded. "Sounds good, I never pass up the chance to get some free food."

So together team seven left the classroom.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sakura quietly approached Sasuke. "Uh Sasuke, since we're going to be a team UI thought maybe we should all get something to eat? Neither of us really know Shino that well and he doesn't know us. This would be a good way to get to know one another."

He turned to look at her. She more than half expected some kind of rude remark followed by his walking out. "All right, let's have lunch."

"Re… really?"

Sasuke nodded. "Like you said we're a team now, we'll need to work together so we may as well start now."

Smiling she nodded, maybe being teammates would allow them to finally get close.

XXXXXXXXXX

After a good meal at Ichiraku's team seven returned. They were forced to sit there and watch as nine other senseis came and collected their teams. They were soon the only ones left in the classroom.

Naruto got up out of his seat and went over to the chalkboard. He took a piece of chalk and wrote a message out on the board.

'We're at the mansion sensei.' –Team 7

"Okay, let's go," Naruto said.

"Go where?" Kiba asked confused. "Aren't we supposed to stay here until our sensei arrives?"

"He won't be here for another two hours," Naruto said with certainty.

"And how could you know that?" Kiba asked.

"Because I know him, Kakashi was my dad's student and he's been my part time instructor since I was four." Naruto said. "He is _always_ two hours late to everything but missions. If my dad wants to meet him at one he has to schedule the meeting for eleven. Trust me he won't be here in less than two hours. We'd be better off spending that time at my home planning."

"Planning? Planning for what Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked in surprise.

"The Genin exam of course," Naruto said nonchalantly.

XXXXXXXXXX

A little more than two hours later Kakashi arrived at the Namikaze mansion to find his team lounging about relaxing. Kakashi tried to put out an angry presence but it didn't seem to work.

Naruto looked at Kiba and held out his hand. "See I told you he'd be more than two hours late."

"Yeah, fine, here," Kiba grumbled as he handed over some ryu notes to Naruto.

"Naruto, don't tell me you were betting on me being late," Kakashi said.

"Aw, come on sensei, how often does a guy get to bet on a sure thing?"

Kakashi sweat dropped.

"Why were you so late sensei?" Hinata asked.

"Well there was this little old lady who needed to cross a couple dozen streets and I felt I should help her."

Grinning Naruto turned to Hinata and put out his hand. "See, I told you he'd make up a ridiculous story about why he was late."

Sighing Hinata took out some ryu notes. "Here Naruto-kun."

Kakashi sweat dropped again. _I'm losing a lot of face here. _"Okay, let's try this again. For those of you I haven't gotten to know I am Hatake Kakashi, your new sensei. Why don't we introduce ourselves? Give me an idea of what you like, dislike, and what your dreams are."

"I am Hyuuga Hinata, the designated heir to my clan. I like pressing flowers, learning new jutsus, and Naruto-kun. I dislike shrill annoying blonde girls. My dream is to one day be the wife of the Hokage."

"Huh?!" Naruto blushed and looked over at his best friend.

"Isn't the Yondaime sort of old for you?" Kiba asked.

"Oh, I want to marry the _Fifth _Hokage," she said sweetly and put her head on Naruto's shoulder. Causing his blush to go even darker.

"Moving right along…" Kakashi said quickly and nodded to Kiba.

"I'm Inuzuka Kiba and this is my partner Akamaru." The little dog barked. "I like running outside and playing with Akamaru. I dislike cats and any food I can't chew. My dream is to be a great ninja and have lots of hot girls all over me."

_Ah, someone I can relate too, _Kakashi thought. "And since Naruto and I know each other we'll skip an introduction from him. Now the first order of business is…"

"**The Genin Exam!" **All three of them chorused.

For the third time Kakashi sweat dropped. "Naruto, you've been talking to them about that?"

"Was I not supposed to?" Naruto asked innocently. "I mean I was just trying to care for and support my teammates."

Kakashi shook his head. _Great, he's using my own words against me._

"If you didn't want me to tell them about the exam you and dad shouldn't have told me all those stories."

Kiba snorted. "Yeah, we know all about it so don't bother trying to freak us out about the 66 percent failure rate or the possibility of our being sent back to the academy."

"We understand the challenge we face and are prepared for it." Hinata said with conviction.

XXXXXXXXXX

**An Hour and Half Earlier**

"A bell test?" Kiba asked.

Naruto nodded. "That's right, it's like a tradition. The Third Hokage gave the test to the legendary Jiraiya and his teammates. He gave it to my father and his team. My father gave it to Kakashi and his squad. He'll definitely give it to us. The important thing to remember is that the whole point isn't to actually get the bells. It's to prove we can act as a team and support one another. Don't panic because there are only two bells, so long as we act united we'll pass."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Hmmm, I see, well I suppose it's our fault. We should have been more circumspect." He looked at Naruto and smiled beneath his mask. "I guess you've out smarted me Naruto. All right, all of you be at training ground one at eight a.m. sharp tomorrow morning. Oh, and don't have any breakfast."

"Why not?" Kiba asked.

"You'll end up throwing it up if you do. I will see you all tomorrow." He gave Naruto a particular look before going.

For some reason Naruto suddenly had a bad feeling about tomorrow's test. He shook it off, he knew Kakashi and what to expect.

"All right, let's all meet here around seven and have a big team breakfast. We'll talk strategy before going over at around nine thirty." Naruto said.

"But Naruto-kun, sensei just said to be there by eight," Hinata objected.

"Oh he always says stuff like that, but like I said he's always two hours late for everything but missions."

His two teammates nodded.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next morning they came over and joined Naruto and his father at the breakfast table. For Hinata it was nothing special but Kiba was a little intimidated upon being introduced to the Hokage.

Kaede made a point of cooking up a huge spread for all of them. Bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes, pancakes, cereal, butter, syrup, milk, juice, the table was weighed down with every sort of food. The three of them all ate really well and stuffed themselves.

"Today's the big test," Minato said as he sipped his tea. The Hokage had only had a bowl of oatmeal as he usually did. "Are you nervous son?"

"No way dad! This'll be a breeze!"

"Are you sure son?" Minato asked with a little twinkle in his eyes. "The Genin test is usually pretty rough. There's a reason only one team in three passes it on the first try."

"Well sure, but that's because they all get caught by surprise," Naruto stated. "We know exactly what to expect."

"Is that so?" Kakashi said from behind Naruto's ear.

"Gaaahh!" Naruto jumped out of his seat. When he saw Kakashi standing there he gawked at him not believing it. "Kakashi-sensei what are you doing here? You're _early_!"

Beneath his mask Kakashi grinned. "You do know that I _can _make it on time when I want to."

"Naruto, acquiring information to gain an advantage is all well and good," Minato said and sipped his tea. "But if the other side _knows _you have the information they can act accordingly."

Naruto saw his dad and his sensei grinning at each other and got a very sick feeling.

Kakashi made a show of looking at his wrist watch. "Now I believe I told the three of you to be at training ground one at eight. It is now seven fifty five; anyone who is not at the training ground in exactly five minutes automatically fails and goes back to the academy."

"**Aw crap!!" **Naruto shouted. "Everybody run!!" They all bolted from the table and raced for the door.

XXXXXXXXXX

Minato and Kakashi were both laughing.

"They should just make it in time," Minato said between laughs.

"Yes, and then they'll realize just why they shouldn't have had a big breakfast," Kakashi said gleefully. "Ah, this is going to be so much fun." He vanished in a swirl of wind and leaves.


	8. NOT the bell test

**Four minutes and fifty seconds later…**

Naruto, Kiba, and Hinata made it onto training ground one. They had all had to race here as fast as they could and were all drenched in sweat and panting. And now that they had come to a stop their bodies were able to relax.

Which was not a good thing.

"Bleeeehh!" Naruto doubled over and puked. He hadn't even had a chance to make it to some shrubs or a tree. Vomit poured out of his mouth right there out in the open.

The second Kiba saw it he began to gag. He tried to get to some bushes but only made it two steps before he felt it coming up his throat. He dropped to both knees and began gagging and puking.

Hinata slapped both hands over her mouth and _ran _for the nearest tree. She couldn't imagine anything worse than throwing up in front of Naruto-kun. Seeing him do it was anything but pretty, she didn't want him to have the mental image of her doing the same. She felt her mouth fill with hot chunky vomit but held it back behind her hands just long enough for her make it to the other side of the tree.

There she daintily emptied out her stomach with her head out of Naruto's line of sight.

It took a couple minutes for them to finish.

When it was done and he didn't have anything left to come up Naruto staggered away from the mess on the ground and took out his canteen. He swallowed some water, swished it around his mouth and spat it out to try and get the disgusting taste out of his mouth.

"That's the last time I ever listen to you," Kiba groaned. He'd torn up a handful of grass and was slowly chewing on it.

"Are you two all right?" Hinata asked as she came out from behind the tree. She was dabbing her face with a handkerchief and except for looking a bit pale appeared the strongest of the three of them.

Naruto felt his knees shake a little but he nodded.

"That is the last time I ever listen to you," Kiba grumbled and chewed on some more grass.

"Well, I see you all made it one time," Kakashi said pleasantly. He had leapt down from some nearby branches. "Say, have any of you seen a bucket filled with cold grease? I'm sure I left it around here somewhere." In his right hand he held out a spoon.

As if on cue all three of them bent over and started puking again.

After about five minutes they all seemed to be done. Hinata looked deeply embarrassed as she'd had no chance to hide this time.

Naruto sent out a sickly glare. "That was mean Kakashi-sensei."

"I know," he said with a hidden smile. "But it was also really funny."

The three students just stared back blankly.

"Anyway… since we're all here now we'll begin your test."

"Aren't you at least going to give us a chance to recover?" Kiba whined.

Kakashi shook his head. "A ninja must be ready to act at any time and under any circumstance, including when he feels a little sick."

"That's fine," Naruto growled and stood a little straighter. "We'll pass the bell test and prove to you we belong together as a team."

"Bell test?" Kakashi asked questioningly. "Who said anything about a bell test?"

_Uh oh, _Naruto thought.

As they watched Kakashi took out a kunai and nicked his thumb drawing a little blood. He then performed the summoning jutsu. A small dog that Naruto recognized as Pakkun appeared in a puff of smoke. Pakkun had a small jacket on; Kakashi took out a folded piece of paper and slipped it into a pocket on the jacket.

"You know what to do," Kakashi said.

The dog looked up at him questioningly. "You know this is a real waste of my talent don't you?"

"Please?"

Sighing the dog nodded. "Fine, but you owe me… big." Pakkun then took off away from the m and into the training ground's tree line.

Kakashi pressed a setting on his wrist watch. "All right you have one hour starting… now!"

The three students stood there unmoving.

"Uhm what's going on?" Naruto asked. "Is the test to play hide and seek with Pakkun?"

"Not exactly," Kakashi said in a friendly voice. "That note I gave Pakkun has the message, 'Team Seven fails' written on it. He's going to try and deliver it to your father in his office in the Tower. Your job is to stop him. If he delivers that message in the next sixty minutes you all fail."

"**CRAP!!" **Naruto cried out girlishly. "We've got to catch him!" He, Hinata, and Kiba took off after the little dog.

Watching them run Kakashi giggled. "I really ought to get some popcorn." He vanished in a swirl of wind and leaves.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Something's wrong," Kiba shouted. He was leading their team at the moment. Pakkun was out of sight and they were relying on his nose to guide them.

Naruto nodded. "He's not heading for the Tower."

Training Ground One was in the southern section of the village, while the Tower was in the north near the cliff wall. The straight path to his goal therefore would have taken Pakkun almost due north. Instead he was running westward, towards the market quarter.

"Why is he going in this direction instead?" Hinata asked.

"Who cares?!" Kiba growled. "It's a good thing since it gives us a way better chance of catching him!"

"There's a trick to this," Naruto said. "I know it. Kakashi always says a ninja has to look underneath the underneath."

"So how the hell does that help us?" Kiba asked.

"Whatever direction he's moving now we know where he has to go eventually," Hinata pointed out.

"The Tower," Naruto said. Hinata nodded. "I have an idea; I'll go to the Tower and act as a last line of defense. You two keep chasing him, if you catch him just rip up the note Kakashi gave him."

XXXXXXXXXX

In the Hokage's office Minato and Kakashi were relaxing. They had tea and a big bowl of buttered popcorn, in front of them was a crystal ball. Sarutobi had passed on the secret of his scrying jutsu to his successor, knowing how useful it could be.

It could also be entertaining.

"Naruto's figured out there has to be a trick," Minato said with a hint of pride.

"I figured he would," Kakashi said. "After all, I did teach him."

"I taught him more," Minato pointed out.

"All the more reason he should have suspected something," Kakashi said. He looked at the crystal ball. "Oh, this is going to be a good part."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Out of the way!!" Kiba shouted as he ran and dodged through the crowded street.

"Please pardon us!" Hinata yelled.

They had finally gotten close enough to spot Pakkun. He had immediately dropped from the roof tops down into the busy streets of the market quarter. Being a small dog he was able to scoot past people's feet without much trouble, while his pursuers had to try and avoid the hapless civilians as best they could. As he was passing a vendor selling hot dogs Pakkun leapt up and grabbed one in his jaws before continuing to run on.

"Hey!" The man shouted angrily.

Pakkun chewed his meal and kept running full speed. _I'm sure Kakashi will be happy to pay for this; it's the least he can do given where I'm going._

XXXXXXXXXX

"You're paying for that hot dog," Minato said.

"I know."

XXXXXXXXXX

They crossed through the market quarter and on into less crowded parts of the village.

"We're still not headed towards the Tower," Hinata said. "Where is he going?"

A gentle breeze brought a whiff of something and Kiba looked sick.

"Is something wrong?" Hinata asked.

"I think I know where he's leading us," Kiba spoke grimly.

"Where Kiba-kun?"

"You don't want to know," he said. Akamaru whined agreement.

XXXXXXXXXX

"You know, I never thought about how fortunate it is that this jutsu only relates sight and sound."

Chuckling Kakashi nodded. "If it gave us smell too that would be a problem."

XXXXXXXXXX

The members of the Inuzuka clan each underwent special procedures that altered their physiology from other humans, even from other ninja. Among the most important difference was an olfactory sense about a hundred times stronger than an ordinary human's.

Normally this was one of the clan's most prized assets. The Inuzuka were the village's elite trackers and hunter nin. They could pick up trails that were days only and follow them for hundreds of miles. They could follow a single target through a crowd and never lose track of them. They could identify someone instantly by scent no matter how they were disguised.

But at times this enhanced sense of scent could be a weakness. Like now.

Akamaru was hiding inside Kiba's coat while the boy had both hands clamped over his nose. "Why!" Kiba cried miserably. "Why'd he take us to the garbage dump of all places?"

Hinata had a hand over her own nose. While this was unpleasant for her it was not the misery Kiba was going through. "We've almost caught him! Come on Kiba it will all be over in a little bit."

Leaping through small hills of shifting trash they closed in on their target. Since coming to the dump Pakkun had been slowed by the poor footing offered by the endless rubbish. Also he couldn't be enjoying this any more than Akamaru was. They'd been able to close the gap and keep an eye on him without even relying on her byakugan.

Pakkun did not make it easy. Several times they almost had him only to have him dodge away at the last instant and avoid their grasp.

Finally though Kiba managed to drive him around a particular hill of trash where Hinata was waiting.

"Got you!" She said triumphantly.

As her hands passed though his image he vanished in a puff of smoke.

"No way!" Kiba cried in disbelief. "He made a _bunshin_?"

"Summoned creatures possess chakra and at least the potential to work jutsus that don't use hand signs," Hinata stated. She'd learned that in class. She shut her eyes. **"Byakugan." **Activating her blood line limit the veins around her eyes pushed up giving her an unnatural look. In an instant she was able to search in a 360 degree arc out to two hundred yards. "There's no sign of him." She announced.

"Aw man! You have got to be kidding me! What do we do now?"

"I don't see we have any choice," she said. "Let's head to the Tower and hope Naruto can catch him."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi glanced at his watch. "Five minutes to go."

"Have you ever noticed how these things always seem to go down to the very last minute?" Minato said. On the crystal ball was the image of Pakkun racing over the roof tops approaching the Tower.

"Yeah, it wouldn't be as interesting if it didn't though."

"True."

XXXXXXXXXX

Outside the tower twenty Narutos stood guard surrounding the building. Fortunately Pakkun had spotted them from a distance. He couldn't smell anything but garbage right now, he figured his ability to smell was shot for awhile.

Pakkun headed for the entrance and dodged away at the last second. One of the clones spotted him and shouted to the others. All twenty began to chase him, desperate to catch him and get that note.

XXXXXXXXXX

From out of a nearby alley the real Pakkun emerged and dashed to the door way. _Sorry Naruto, I really didn't want to be the one who fails you. But you're a little too overaggressive. No hard feelings. _

People made way for him as he raced up the stairs to the tenth floor where the Hokage and his summoner awaited. Getting to the outer office administrative assistants watched him as he ran to the office doors where a single Chunin stood guard.

"Out of the way! Official business for the Hokage!" Pakkun shouted and charged past.

Before he could reach the door though the Chunin snatched him up by the collar and brought him up to face level. "Official business, huh? Funny, you don't look like a normal messenger."

"You had better put me down or I'll bite you." Pakkun warned.

With a grin the Chunin pulled the piece of paper in his jacket out and unfolded it. He laughed when he saw the only thing written there was a smiley face.

"Hey! Give that back to me or I'll tell the Hokage you interfered with official state business."

"I think dad will forgive me." There was a puff of smoke and the Chunin was revealed to be none other than Naruto. "And why do you smell so bad?"

The office doors opened and Minato stepped out with Kakashi. A tiny beeping came from Kakashi's wrist watch. "And that's one hour, looks like you and your team pass Naruto."

"Congratulations son!" The Hokage happily rubbed his son's head.

"Thanks dad, thanks sensei!" Naruto said proudly.

XXXXXXXXXX

Later that night Minato hosted a party for the Hyuuga and Inuzuka clans as they celebrated their children becoming Genin of the village.

_After _Hinata and Kiba went home and took baths of course.


	9. The first mission

Minato looked at the mission request with a frown. "Why me?" He muttered.

"Is something wrong Hokage-sama?" Iruka asked. With school out of session he was temporarily assigned to the Tower.

"It's this mission request," Minato said. "The one from the Fire Daimyo."

"Oh that one!" Iruka nodded. "It's rather important given not only who's requesting it but who the subject is."

"I really wish I could just refuse this one all together," the Hokage said.

"But it's from the Fire Daimyo!"

"I know," Minato sighed wearily. Technically the Hokage and Fire Daimyo were equals. The former was charged with the military forces of the nation, the latter with the economic, legislative, and political authority. In theory neither could give the other orders. In practice the Fire Daimyo and the feudal lords sworn to his service provided Konoha about 70 percent of its business. A request could not be turned down without serious implications.

Minato looked at the mission request and thought about it. It had been twelve years, in that time he had healed and gained some acceptance, but he had not really forgiven. He wondered what his dear wife would say about this.

He smiled as he imagined her bopping the top of his head and yelling at him to, 'get over it.'

As he was thinking that the doors to the chamber opened up and team seven entered. In strolled Kakashi followed by his squad. Hinata was holding a happily purring cat with a red ribbon. Kiba and Akamaru were openly glaring at the cat. Naruto walked in hands firmly behind his back with a bored look stamped on his features.

"There you are my little kitty!" The Fire Daimyo's wife exclaimed and snatched the poor cat away from Hinata and began crushing it in a hug. "I don't know how you keep getting lost!"

Minato shook his head. _I give Tora two weeks tops before he makes another break for it. _"Well Kakashi another successful mission I see. You've certainly been wracking them up. It's only been one month and you've already completed 40 D-ranks. Pretty impressive."

"Thank you Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied.

"How do you manage to fit in training with so many missions?" Minato teased.

"Ah… it can be challenge."

Minato snorted when Kiba stuck his tongue out at him. He'd kept an eye on Kakashi and noted his 'hands off' approach to teaching. Kakashi had never had any trouble teaching Naruto, but then he'd never been the main instructor. Minato had personally taught his son the basics along with the kage bunshin, rasengan, and a few techniques based on his natural affinity with wind. He had also allowed his son to sign the toad summoning contract and worked very hard on his chakra control. Minato was well satisfied with his son's abilities, but was a bit concerned that his teammates were not getting as much instruction as they would need.

Since Kakashi was still new to being a sensei Minato was letting him find his own way for now. If he needed to though he would pull him aside and have a friendly talk about a sensei's responsibilities.

"Well, since it's still early I'll let you pick your next mission." He shuffled the mission requests in front of him. "You can help unload a caravan, retile a roof, or do some minor repairs on the wall."

"None of the above!!" Naruto suddenly shouted catching everyone by surprise. "I want a real mission! No way am I doing another stupid pointless mission that a bunch of twelve year olds could handle!"

"Naruto," Kakashi said dryly. "You **are** a bunch of twelve year olds."

"You know what I mean!" Naruto huffed. "I want a mission for ninja!" He looked at his father. "Dad…"

"That's Hokage-sama," Minato cut him off sharply, making Naruto cringe. "Son, I've told you before, you can't expect me to give you preferential treatment. If you want to earn people's respect you have to do the same jobs they do."

"But that's exactly what I want!" Naruto complained. "I want to start doing _real _missions so I can start proving what an awesome ninja I am."

Kiba growled and Akamaru began to bark.

Looking embarrassed Naruto spoke quickly. "I mean what great ninja _we_ are."

"Don't be ridiculous Naruto," Iruka said curtly. "You and your team are still just barely out of the academy. You need these low level assignments to prepare yourselves for more difficult ones."

"Aw come on! How does weeding a yard or painting a house get us ready for ninja work?"

"None of the other rookie squads have been given anything above D-rank yet either," Minato pointed out.

"Well team seven should definitely be the first! We're way better than the other two."

"You think so son?" Minato asked.

"Absolutely! Just give us a chance to prove it!"

Minato glanced down at the mission request. He actually had two C-ranks available. "All right son," he said slowly. "I'll give you something a little more challenging."

Hinata's eyebrows rose. _That actually worked?_

Minato continued and pulled out the document in front of him. "I have a mission that would be perfect for your team and for you in particular."

"Really! What is it?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"You're to track down the Lady Senju Tsunade and convince her to return to this village so she can meet with the Fire Daimyo."

"We're going to go meet the Lady Tsunade?" Hinata said excitedly.

_We're going to go meet Tsunade?_ Kakashi groaned.

Naruto looked from Hinata to Kakashi questioningly. "Uhm, is she famous or something?"

XXXXXXXXXX

After some explanations team seven was dismissed in order to prepare to leave early the next morning. Kakashi decided to stay behind for a quiet word with the Hokage.

"Is this some sort of punishment?" Kakashi asked directly.

Minato's answer was to shove the mission request in front of his friend's single eye. "Believe me, this wasn't my idea Kakashi."

"But why us? Couldn't you send someone else?"

"Don't whine or you're going to start sounding like Naruto." Minato told him. "Whatever my personal feelings, my duty is to assign the squad best suited to the mission. You know her and I think she would appreciate the chance to meet my son, Kushina's son. Anyway, even if it's a little difficult it won't be dangerous… as long as you don't make her angry."

"Thanks for the reminder, I've _seen _her angry." Kakashi shivered a bit.

"Just find her and extend the invitation, that's all. If she says no I don't expect you to bring her in by force."

"Well that's good at least, I was hoping to live a while longer."

On his way out he passed Kurenai and team eight.

When they entered the chamber Kurenai bowed slightly. "Team eight reporting mission completed, we are here to request another mission."

Minato nodded and looked at the kids who were standing behind her. Sakura smiled over at him and even gave a quick wave hello. Shino stood there with his eyes hidden away behind shades like all the Aburame clan. Then there was Sasuke, looking right back at him defiant and proud. Sasuke made no secret that he wanted to prove himself to the village and restore the honor of the Uchiha. Itachi was one of his most trusted and able lieutenants. Hisa was a skilled kunoichi who might make Chunin in the next few years. He was interested to see what Sasuke was capable of. He had a safe C-rank escort mission that would be a good way to give all of them a little more experience and let them see the world beyond Konoha.

"I see that team eight had successfully completed thirty five D-ranks. Tell me Kurenai; is your team ready for something more demanding?"

"Definitely Hokage-sama," she replied without hesitation. "They're a fine squad and ready for more."

"Well in that case I have a C-rank mission for you. You'll be escorting a bridge builder back to his home in Wave country."

XXXXXXXXXX

The next morning Naruto was finishing up his breakfast before leaving to meet his team at the gates.

"Please take good care of yourself Naruto," Kaede told him. "And remember that all ninja missions can be dangerous no matter how simple they appear to be."

"Sure thing Kaede, I'll be careful!" Dressed in a dark green shirt and khaki pants he pulled on his trench coat. With his pouches and canteen in place he really did look like a miniature version of his father. "When I come back I want to have your special ramen."

"I will consider making it for you upon your return."

"Only consider? Awww come on Kaede-san!"

"Naruto, how many times have I told you not to whine? It is not becoming of someone of your position."

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto arrived at the gate a few minutes before eight. To his shock not only was Kakashi actually there on time but he was talking to Kurenai whose squad was there too. Hinata and Sakura were talking and waved him over.

"Naruto you'll never believe it!" Sakura told him. "My team and I are going to Wave country on a mission!"

"That's great Sakura-chan," he said. "We're going to the Isle of Torikae."

"The place with all the casinos! I know Hinata told me. You're also going to meet the Lady Tsunade! You're so lucky!"

"Naruto didn't think so," Hinata confided. "He didn't even realize who she was at first."

Sakura looked surprised. "But she was Jiraiya's teammate, one of the Sannin. Your father must have known her."

"I think he did, but he's never said anything about her. Even last night when I asked he wouldn't say anything. He just gave me a letter."

"A letter?" Sakura asked and both girls looked curious.

Reaching into one of his coat pockets Naruto produced a plain envelope with 'Tsunade' written in a neat hand and bearing the personal seal of the Fourth Hokage.

"What's it say?" Sakura asked.

"No idea," Naruto said. "Dad gave it to me already sealed and I can't open it without breaking the seal and getting in trouble." He gave Hinata a warm smile. "Though with the byakugan…"

"No," Hinata said firmly.

"Well are we going or not?" An old man with a bottle of whiskey in hand complained. "I am a bridge builder of great renown and my time is precious you know."

Sakura sighed. "That's Tazuna, our client. I'm _really _jealous of you guys."

"Sakura, we're leaving now," Kurenai called.

"Coming sensei! Bye guys! I'll see you when we all get back!"

Hinata and Naruto waved goodbye and watched Team eight depart with their surly client.

They did not suspect that one of them would not return.


	10. First time seeing it

The four of them were on a small boat creeping through the swamp, hidden in the morning mist. Kurenai appeared calm and collected, as though nothing were out of the ordinary. That was nothing but an act. She needed to appear calm for the sake of her students. This mission was already far from ordinary and she had a bad feeling it might end up being a complete disaster.

XXXXXXXXXX

**Flashback**

The Demon Brothers were unconscious and chained to a tree. Fortunately Kurenai had spotted the puddle of water they had been hiding in. She had managed to cast a genjutsu that neither her students nor her team had noticed. She was able to defeat them both and even got to see her team in action. All three of them had performed well, with Sasuke showing real talent and courage under fire.

Now that the fight was over though it was time to deal with some serious matters. She turned to look at Tazuna and saw the man flinch as her red eyes bored into him. "These men were both Chunin level and they were here aiming for you Tazuna-san," she said. "Chunin are not easy or cheap to hire. Why would someone go to that much trouble for a bridge builder?"

"How would I know?" He answered nervously.

"Please don't treat me like a fool Tazuna-san. All ninja are taught to see through deception, it's a skill that often means the difference between life and death. I am a Jonin of my village and quite skilled at reading people. It's clear to me you're lying. Now tell me what you're hiding or I am taking my team with me back to the village."

"You can't do that!"

"I assure that I can, as sensei I am the one responsible for my team's safety. I am not about to take them into a situation they are not ready for. I trust them to handle any random bandits we come across but not Chunin level opponents. Now either tell me why these men were sent after you or I am canceling our contract and taking my squad back to Konoha."

"If you do that I'm a dead man."

"Why?" She demanded. "Just who is it that is after you?"

Seeing no alternative Tazuna lowered his head and answered in a low undertone. "His name is Gato."

"Gato?" She said in surprise. "You don't mean the billionaire shipping magnate, that Gato do you?"

Tazuna nodded. "That's one side of him," he said bitterly. "But what you may not know is that he is also a ruthless gangster who uses violence and corruption to get whatever he wants. The Land of Waves used to be a prosperous place before he came there. He used his gangs to run off all the other shipping interests until he had a monopoly on water borne transport. For an island nation like ours shipping is our life's blood. The economy was soon ruined as Gato raised the transport costs by five or six hundred percent. He profited while scores of businesses went under and people fell into poverty. The bridge I'm building could change all that! If I can complete it people will be able to trade without paying the ridiculous transport fees and be able to earn livings again."

"Which would be bad news for Gato and his shipping interests," Sasuke spoke up.

Sakura nodded. "And gives him a very good reason to want you dead."

"Given the economics involved it seems certain even greater efforts will be expended to eliminate you," Shino said in a cool rational voice.

Tazuna nodded nervously. "That's why if you abandon me I'm dead."

"If you knew you would likely be targeted by ninja you should have requested a higher ranked mission. For something like this we would have assigned a B or even an A rank and provided you a much stronger bodyguard." Kurenai told him.

"There was no money to pay for anything more than a C-rank," Tazuna explained. "I had to keep the real level of danger hidden."

"And instead you want me to protect you with Genin who are just learning what it means to be real ninja. You expect them to do a job that would be assigned to a team of Jonin and Chunin." Kurenai shook her head. "I am very sorry Tazuna-san, but I am going to have to cancel our contract. If you return to the village with us you'll be given a full refund."

"What the hell good does that do me?" He demanded. "I need protection, not money."

"Sensei we can't turn tail and run," Sasuke said. "People will think we're cowards."

Kurenai shook her head. "No they won't Sasuke; we're ninja, not berserkers. If you're in a situation where the odds are too heavy against you there's nothing wrong with retreating. No one is going to think a Genin squad cowardly just because they can't handle Chunin level opposition."

"But sensei, we _did _handle two Chunin," Sakura pointed out.

"That is correct," Shino stated. "The simple fact the mission has a greater degree than was originally anticipated should not of itself rule out the possibility of successful completion."

"Your students seem willing to continue," Tazuna said hopefully.

"That only proves that they have courage but not enough common sense." She turned to look sharply at her charges. "While the three of you performed admirably I was the one who defeated them. If we continue we would face either higher level opponents or larger numbers of them and I am not confident enough in my ability such an unknown risk."

"Isn't that a ninja's job?" Sasuke asked. "Facing unknown risks? I'm not afraid of whatever may come; I refuse to run away from my first real mission."

"I agree with Sasuke-kun," Sakura spoke up. "The Hokage always talks about doing what is right no matter the risk. How can we just abandon poor Tazuna-san or his people?"

"I truly appreciate your kind words little girl," Tazuna said. "But your sensei is right, it's best you just leave this helpless old man to his fate. I mean who cares if my poor daughter will be left without a parent? Even though I know she'll blame Konoha for letting her dear dad be butchered. It's fine."

XXXXXXXXXX

Tazuna came forward in the boat near to where she was. "I want to thank you for protecting me, when we get to my house I'll have my daughter cook us up a feast."

Kurenai nodded without saying anything. She was still trying to maintain a calm front, but couldn't shake the feeling that agreeing to this had been a mistake. She'd had sympathy for Tazuna and his situation. She'd also been pleased by the courage her three students displayed. Seeing her hesitation Tazuna had been quick to play up the tragic aspects of his poor daughter and of the children who were left hungry because their parents were being victimized by Gato and his thugs. In the end she had reversed herself and decided to continue the mission.

Now though she was questioning the wisdom of that. What kind of opposition would Gato have lined up for them? They had already faced and beaten two Chunin level ninja. That meant she would have to expect enemies of greater skill or of greater number, it was even possible they would face both. She was a Jonin of the leaf and had plenty of combat experience along with her share of kills. But the fact remained she was a genjutsu specialist. Her skills were better suited to reconnaissance or ambush rather than straight battle. In this situation a heavy combat specialist like Asuma or Gai would have been preferable.

Though her kids were all promising she had no illusions that they were ready for Jonin of Chunin level combat. Everything would depend on her ability to take the enemy out quickly with her genjutsu.

The small boat finally arrived at a rickety old dock.

"All of you stay sharp and keep your eyes wide open. From this point on think of yourselves as being in enemy territory." Kurenai instructed them.

All three of her students nodded with serious expressions on their faces. She decided against telling them it was likely they would be attacked somewhere between here and Tazuna's home. Her students were alert and aware of the potential for danger, that would do. Taking the lead she led them out.

XXXXXXXXXX

Zabuza was sitting on a tree branch overlooking the trail that led to the target's home. He and his partner had been out here the last three days waiting. Like all true ninja the Demon of the Mist could be patient when he needed to be.

A figure in a hunter nin mask materialized on the branch beside him.

"The target and an escort of four ninja are approaching."

"About damn time," Zabuza growled. "What kind of read did you get on the escort?"

"Three of them are children, likely no older than twelve or thirteen. They are led by a kunoichi with the bearing of someone experienced."

"Children?" Zabuza said in disbelief. "It sounds like a Jonin sensei with a raw squad. How the hell did the demon brothers lose to that?"

"Perhaps the sensei is something special?" The hunter nin offered.

"Maybe," Zabuza grunted. "In any case it's time to find out."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kurenai froze. "Triad formation! Protect the client!" She shouted. Her students pulled out their kunai and formed a tight triangle around a suddenly frightened Tazuna.

"This is it," Sasuke said excitedly. His chance to start proving himself and begin redeeming his clan.

For her part Sakura was just trying not to shake.

Shino looked exactly like he did on the training ground.

Standing about twenty feet away was a muscular ninja with wrapping on his face and a huge two handed sword on his back. He was making no effort at all to hide his presence. "I was thinking about making a grand entrance but I don't think I'll bother. If it's not too much trouble would you mind handing over the old man to me? I'm giving you this one chance as a professional courtesy."

"I recognize you from the Bingo Book," Kurenai said with a calm she did not feel. "You're Momochi Zabuza." This was very, very bad. She was up against the Demon of the Mist and a master of silent killing. She had no illusions she would be any sort of match for him in an open fight.

"Ah, fame," Zabuza replied with a chuckle. "If you know who I am you know your only chance is to give up the old coot and just walk away. As much fun as it would be to chop you all up I'm only worried about money right now. Just stand aside and you can go."

She knew she had only one chance. She began casting and ran at him. As her genjutsu took effect vines seemed to sprout up out of the ground and entangle his arms and legs. She covered the distance between them in the blink of an eye; she had to strike in the moment of confusion before he realized this was all illusion. Without hesitation she plunged her kunai straight into his heart.

Out of the fatal wound water poured out.

"Sucker," the mizu bunshin laughed as it dissolved.

On sheer instinct Kurenai dived to the left. This saved her life as a sword sliced though the space she had just occupied. But it left her momentarily defenseless. Letting go of his sword Zabuza delivered a brutal punch to her face knocking her out and causing the genjutsu to vanish.

"Sensei!" Sakura shouted.

Picking his sword back up Zabuza turned in their direction and began to stroll over towards them. He looked more amused by the situation than anything else. "This is the part where you brats run away screaming."

"Don't underestimate me!" Sasuke shouted. "I'm a ninja of the Uchiha clan and we don't run!"

"You're a what? Don't make me laugh snot nose, calling a kid like you a ninja is an insult to the name. It takes a hell of a lot more to be a ninja that a little training and a hitai-ite around your forehead. And you're an Uchiha? I thought the Fourth Hokage wiped you all out. I guess you leaf nins really are soft if he spared some of you traitors."

Hearing that hated word from a foreign ninja made something inside him just snap. With a scream of pure rage Sasuke ran at him, his only thought to kill him for his insult.

"Sasuke! No!" Sakura shouted and ran after him.

"Sakura don't!" Shino called out but remained where he was to try and protect Tazuna.

Zabuza laughed at the boy's stupidity, a real ninja wouldn't let a few words drive him over the edge. He lifted his sword and swung, aiming to cut him in half. Sasuke leapt the blades arc, his eyes blazing and turning red as his sharingan awoke. He aimed his strike for the man's unprotected neck. But faster than he would have believed possible the sword was brought back around. Sasuke felt the butt end slam into his belly. All his breath was forced out all at once and he was sent flying through the air.

He slammed hard into the ground and rolled over to the base of a tree. Despite pain and lack of breath he grabbed onto the tree and forced himself up to his feet. He looked up to see his enemy looming over him sword up and about to come down.

"Sasuke!"

He heard her shout and the next thing he knew he was pushed back to the ground. He was lying on the ground looking up as Zabuza's sword sliced through Sakura and tree behind her. His newly active sharingan let him see the fountain of blood and the look of surprise on Sakura's face with perfect clarity. He saw clearly as the top half of her body toppled over while the bottom half somehow remained standing. He saw her eyes turn to look at him and her mouth moved soundlessly forming the word, 'sorry.' When her body hit the ground he saw the light already going out of her eyes.

Her body wound up just a few feet away from him, her lifeless face still turned in his direction. He stayed where he was on the ground staring at her, the sudden shock of what had happened too much.

"This your first time seeing someone die kid?" Zabuza asked amused. "By the time I was a ninja my hands were already soaked in blood. This is the difference between brats like you and real ninja. Take a good long look, if you really do become a ninja this is something you'll see a lot of."

It was true; this was the first time he had ever seen someone die. By the time he had been allowed to return to his home the bodies had been removed and the blood all washed away. He had pictured what must have happened to his father and the others, but seeing it was something else entirely.

Somehow he found the strength to look away from her and get back o his feet. He noted Zabuza had not moved and that Shino was now at his side.

"What you have done cannot be forgiven," Shino said with what was for him a great deal of anger in his voice.

"I'm going to kill you for this," Sasuke promised.

Zabuza shrugged, his sword was resting on his shoulder. "If that's the way you want it come on then."

But before either boy could make a move a hail of senbons fell on them, piercing them through their backs, arms, and legs. They both fell over unable to do more than twitch.

Zabuza looked up at the tree line where his partner stood calmly watching. "Why did you bother with that?"

"They are not truly our enemies Zabuza-sama and we will in no way profit from their deaths. Like this they are no longer a threat and do not have to be killed."

"You're still way too soft Haku," Zabuza did not sound pleased. "But fine, if you want I'll let them live." He looked down at the two conscious boys. "You two owe your life to my associate Haku; I would just as soon kill you as look at you."

With that Zabuza turned and slowly approached Tazuna who was still standing there pale and shaking. The old trouble maker had been too scared to even run, not that he could have gotten away if he had.

"Any final words?" Zabuza asked in a friendly way. "If so I'll see they reach your family."

"Tha… thank you, please tell my daughter and grandson…"

"Just kidding," Zabuza laughed. In a flash the bridge builder's head was separated from his body and sent flying.

Zabuza took the head and stuffed it in a sack. It was proof the contract had been fulfilled. "Let's go get our money," Zabuza said happily.

"Yes Zabuza-sama."

The two of them left to meet their employer without giving the shattered remnant of team eight a second thought.


	11. A final silent goodbye

As soon as Zabuza saw that Gato wasn't here he knew he'd be unhappy. Instead of Gato there was some short greasy haired guy with glasses and a brief case. He had about twenty well armed bandits with him for protection. The way they were glaring at him seemed proof these idiots had never faced ninja. They were meeting outside the town where the bridge was being built. Yesterday he and Haku had delivered Tazuna's head, keeping their side of the bargain. Today Gato was expected to deliver on his end.

"Where's Gato?" Zabuza demanded.

"Gato-san had urgent business elsewhere and has already left this country," the mouthpiece stated.

"I'll just bet," he grumbled. "What about my money?"

The man in the glasses handed the case over to one of the bandits who tossed it over to Zabuza's feet. "There is you payment with Gato-san's thanks. We are done here."

"Hold it!" Zabuza shouted. He picked up the case and dumped the contents out. Bundles of ryu notes spilled out onto the ground. But not enough bundles and not in big enough denominations. Zabuza had plenty of experience counting up money and knew immediately he had been seriously shorted. "What the hell are you trying to pull here?! This isn't ten million ryu!"

"One old bridge builder is not worth ten million ryu," the man said calmly.

"He was when Gato hired me! The contract was for ten million, cash, payable upon completion!"

"Gato-san has reevaluated and decided the true worth of the contract was 100,000 ryu, which he gladly pays you." The man made a signal and several of the bandits took out bows and loaded them. The man seemed confident that this would be enough to cower the Demon of the Mist. "He was pleased with your work and may hire you again in the future. That is the only reason you are being allowed to collect your payment and walk away. Please accept the money and go. IF you cause any trouble you will be killed on the spot. Even if you should somehow manage to escape the hunter nins of Kiro will be informed of your whereabouts."

Beneath his bandages Zabuza grinned at the man's composure. "Hey, let me guess, you're part of middle management and this is your first, 'big' job for Gato? Am I right?"

The man's calm air slipped just a bit. "Yes, how would you know that?"

"Heh, I just figured he'd use a throw away for something like this. No point letting someone important get killed."

The idiot realized he was not in control of the situation and, as one would expect, he panicked. "Kill him!" The man shouted.

The arrows were loosed and they all hit Zabuza right in the chest.

His body promptly turned to water.

The real Zabuza leapt down from his hiding spot and started butchering the bandits before most of them could even draw a weapon. A hail of senbons came down crippling and disabling others. Zabuza cut the annoying office worker into quarters. He then finished off the others who had been disabled by the senbons. Unlike with the leaf nins he was in no mood to show any quarter.

XXXXXXXXXX

"The bastard's a damn _billionaire _and he shorts me!" Zabuza raged. "A hundred thousand?! I wouldn't even have come to this forsaken corner of the word for that much! I swear I'll kill the son of a bitch! Gato is a dead man!"

Haku was calmly retrieving his senbons. He had managed not to directly kill anyone. He wondered if that really mattered when he had helped Zabuza do the killing. "Forgive me Zabuza-sama, but was this really wise? As it is the hunter nins will surely be informed of our where abouts and be on their way."

"Haku, they're already on their way," Zabuza stated with certainty. "The second Gato, broke his contract with me he knew I'd kill him for it. Sending this token payment was supposed to lull me and convince me he actually wanted to continue doing business." He tossed the money back in the briefcase and got up. "It's time to get the hell out of Wave and disappear again."

"Yes Zabuza-sama," Haku replied without any real emotion. This was the way of life when you were a nuke nin.

XXXXXXXXXX

The three of them stood over a simple mound of earth. There were no markers or signs, nothing at all to show this was the grave of a young girl who had died far from home in service to her village.

"Is this all there is?" Sasuke asked. "Some unmarked grave in the middle of the woods? A few words, a few prayers, and that's it?"

"A lot of times a ninja doesn't get even this much," Kurenai said quietly. "A lot of good people have been left out to rot because there was no one left to bury them or the mission didn't allow time for even that. What? Did you think every dead ninja got a funeral service and a place in the family cemetery?" She touched a pouch that contained Sakura's hitai-ite and her personal possessions. "I will return these to her family who will hold a memorial service. Her name will be carved into the monument, that is a much tribute as she will be given."

_Which puts her ahead of father and the others in that area at least. _Traitors didn't get their names on the monument. Sasuke was looking at the pile of earth. In a year's time it would be completely over grown and even they would never be able to find it again. In time everything about her would be forgotten.

"Sensei," Shino spoke up. "Are we really returning to the village?"

"What else can we do?" Kurenai asked. "The mission is a failure and the client is dead. I returned the remains to his family and informed them of what happened." Kurenai sighed at the memory of Tazuna's daughter and grandson railing at the leaf village for allowing his death. She hadn't bothered trying to explain the reality. The fact that by lying about the nature of the threat he had been assigned a woefully underpowered squad for protection. Against someone of Zabuza's ability they had never stood a chance. Kurenai had known neither of them would have believed her any way, and as it was perhaps they could find a tiny bit of comfort in blaming her and her village. "All that's left now is to return to the village and report all this."

"And what about Zabuza and Gato?" Sasuke demanded. "Are they really going to get away with this?"

"If any further action is to be taken that will be the Hokage's decision, not mine."

Sasuke kept staring down at the mound of dirt. "She died because of me," he said quietly. "She sacrificed herself to save me."

"Then honor her memory by becoming a great ninja and protecting all your teammates from here on out," Kurenai told him. "But don't blame yourself for what happened. The only one responsible for this was me. I alone am to blame and will tell the Hokage exactly that. I should never have allowed the mission to continue after we were attacked by those two Chunin. As soon as I knew the degree of the threat I should have returned to the village." She closed her eyes. "What the hell was I thinking taking Genin into this?"

"You are not to blame sensei," Shino stated rationally. "All three of us were eager to continue the mission."

"That's right," Sasuke said. "You were just doing what we all wanted to do."

"That's no excuse Sasuke," Kurenai said directly. "A ninja squad is not a democracy. A Jonin sensei is put in charge for a reason. It was my responsibility to use good judgment in assessing the situation. What the three of you wanted should have had nothing to do with it. I should never have allowed myself to be swayed. Sakura's death and Tazuna's are my responsibility alone."

"Is… is this really all there is?" Sasuke asked. "It doesn't seem enough somehow."

"No, it doesn't," she agreed. "But this is how a ninja leaves the world. Never forget it." Sadly she turned away. "Now we have to go, this is also part of what it means to be ninja."

Sasuke was the last to turn away. He knew that he would never be able to find her brave again even if he had some reason to come back to this place. _I'm sorry Sakura. I never treated you with the respect you deserved. Honestly I always looked down on you because you didn't have a blood line or come from a clan. But you were a good friend and a good ninja, and I owe you my life. I promise I will never forget you for as long as I live. _With this final silent goodbye be bowed to her, something he would never have done while she was alive.

He then turned away and left with the rest of his squad.


	12. The Devil's own luck

"I see," the Hokage answered quietly. "It is a terrible shame, but these things do happen."

"Yes Hokage-sama," Kurenai said dully. Sasuke and Shino had both been allowed to return home. There was no need for anyone else but her to report in.

"Zabuza will go on our wanted list immediately, about of a million ryu seems fitting." He looked at Kurenai questioningly. "Are you sure you don't want me to issue one for his partner as well?"

She shook her head. "From what both Sasuke and Shino tell me they'd be dead if it weren't for him, I don't want to repay that mercy by placing a bounty on his head."

"Very well," Minato said. "Then there's the matter of Gato," the Hokage said grimly. "Since he hired Zabuza and ordered the mission where a leaf nin was killed I consider him every bit as guilty."

"He's a billionaire though, a well respected businessman," Kurenai said bitterly. "If we kill him won't that hurt the village's reputation?"

Minato grinned coldly. "Don't worry Kurenai, for every task there is a perfect tool. Gato will be dealt with." He looked at her with regret. "I am afraid I will have to suspend you from active duty until I can reassign you."

She lowered her head in shame. "I apologize for my poor judgment Hokage-sama; I take full responsibility for Sakura's death."

He nodded. He had no doubt that Kurenai was a fine kunoichi and that she truly regretted what had happened. But…

"You should never have gone to Wave after being attacked by the Demon Brothers. The moment you realized it was no longer a true C-rank you should have returned immediately and cancelled the contract. I know your students were all willing to press on in spite of the danger, but that is why we entrust our young Genin to senior Jonin ninja. The village and I expect _you _to be the one to make the decisions based on your own experience and best judgment. Your original decision to return was the right one. Allowing the client and your students to change your decision was the mistake."

She could only stand there and nod miserably. The Hokage was right; ultimately it had been her choice. She alone was responsible.

Having rebuked her Minato let her down easy. "We all make mistakes. Maybe in the future you can try being a sensei again, but for right now something else might suit you better."

"Yes Hokage-sama," she said dully. She would have to talk to Sasuke and Shino, not just to say goodbye but ready them for a new instructor.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Wow!" Naruto said as he ship pulled up the dock. "So this is Torikae? It's amazing!"

"Not too bad for your first time out of the village is it?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto could only nod. The island was only about two miles wide and a mile deep at its thickest spot. Except for where the wooden piers were the entire ocean front was sandy white beach. There were hundreds of men and women playing in the water or lying on the sand with very little on. Hinata thought it rather scandalous; Kiba was drooling at some of the girls in their tiny swimsuits.

Beyond the beach just about every inch of land had a massive building on it. There were luxury hotels and casinos that stretched higher than the Hokage Tower and were two or three times as broad. Many of the buildings were splashed with gold paint that made them shine under the tropic sunlight. At night there would be neon lights that would fill every part of this city.

"This can be a very fun town, but expensive," Kakashi told them as they went down the ramp. "They say everything is for sale here and they're not joking."

"So you've been here before Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Once or twice," he said.

As they left the docks and entered the casino district Naruto and Kiba noticed a number of… scantily clad women standing about.

"Hey sensei, how much would she cost?" Kiba said pointing at blonde girl in denim shorts and a red bikini top.

Kakashi studied her for a moment. "Probably about 5,000 ryu, though you might be able to negotiate it a little lower."

"Really?!!" Kiba exclaimed, he'd been joking.

"Sensei!" Hinata cried.

"Heh, sorry," Kakashi said though he didn't seem too sorry. "Kiba try and remember we're here on a job. Also you're only twelve."

"That's like 84 in dog years though!" Kiba argued.

Naruto couldn't help looking at some of the other barely dressed women out there. A buxom girl with long black hair who could not possibly be older than 18 winked at him as he walked past. He couldn't help but blush.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled.

"What?" He jumped. "I didn't do anything!"

"Make sure you don't!" She grabbed onto his arm.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tsunade was at the craps table of the Golden Kami casino. Standing behind her holding Tonton their pet pig Shizune looked unhappy.

"Lady Tsunade, don't you think we should leave now?" Shizune asked pleadingly.

"What are you talking about? I still have money left!"

"Isn't that when you _should _quit?" Shizune said desperately.

Tsunade smiled at her. "Don't worry; I can feel my luck about to change." She put down a stack of 10,000 ryu chips and tossed the dice.

"Snake eyes!" The dealer sang out. "Shooter craps out!" her little stack of chips was swept off the table.

"I see your luck hasn't changed Tsunade."

She looked over to see a familiar face mostly covered by a mask and hitai-ite. "What are you doing here Kakashi?" She asked gruffly.

Kakashi gulped, a hostile Tsunade was a dangerous Tsunade. "Maybe this is just coincidence."

"No it's not," she said flatly. "If you were here on your own you'd be in one of the strip clubs a couple blocks over."

"There are strip clubs?!" Kiba said excitedly.

Tsunade noticed the three kids standing behind Kakashi. "Don't tell me the village made you a sensei!"

"Heh, afraid so, my sensei finally cornered me into it."

At the oblique mention of Minato Tsunade appeared a bit unhappy. "How is he?"

"Fine, he's just fine," Kakashi told her. "As a matter of fact, the reason I'm here…"

"I knew it!" She said accusingly. "He wants me to return to the village doesn't he?"

"Well… technically the Fire Daimyo does. We're here to just deliver a message."

"You can consider it delivered, now go!"

"Hey! My father wrote you a letter the least you can do is read it! Even if you are a Sannin and a former teammate to the great Jiraiya you should still show a little respect!"

Tsunade stared at the mouthy little brat who had just taken his life in his hands. He had spiky blond hair, three scars on each cheek and was dressed in a trench coat. Now that she was taking a good look at him she knew who he was. "Naruto," she breathed. "You're Naruto! Kushina's son!"

He nodded proudly. "That's right; I'm Namikaze Naruto, son of the Yondaime Hokage and Uzumaki Kushina. And I came all this way just to deliver this to you." He held out a sealed envelope to her.

"Excuse me," the dealer called. "But please toss the dice or pass them to the next shooter."

"Oh all right," Tsunade put down her last fifty thousand as Shizune groaned and muttered to herself about living on the street. She then handed the dice to Naruto as she took the letter from him. "Here, you throw them for me; your father always had the devil's own luck. Maybe you got some too."

He stared at the dice she'd put in his hands. "What am I supposed to do with these?"

She nodded to the other end of the craps table. "Just toss them down there."

She then stepped away from the table to nervously open the letter. She had not heard from Minato in over twelve years. Not since Jiraiya's funeral. Taking out the single sheet she saw the message was brief and to the point.

_Auntie,_

_Please return to the village._

_Minato_

She couldn't help but laugh. "Trust him to say more with seven words than most could say with seven hundred."

"Since you're laughing does that mean its good news?" Kakashi asked.

Smiling she showed him the letter.

Kakashi grinned beneath his mask. "Trust sensei to get right to the point."

"That was one of the things I always liked about him," she agreed. "It's been a very long time since he called me, 'auntie.'" She looked questioningly at Kakashi. "Does this mean he's forgiven me?"

"Well… I don't know if forgiven is the word, but he's not angry any more at least."

She thought about that and chewed her bottom lip. "Well that's something, and I'm grateful he let me finally see Naruto. I wanted to right after the funeral but he wouldn't allow it."

"Well then why not come back? You can get to know him and see about mending fences with sensei."

She looked at the letter again and frowned. "Minato wasn't the only thing keeping me away you know; I still have a lot of issues with the village."

"The original request for your return isn't from the Hokage but from the Fire Daimyo. If you refuse this request to return he might force sensei to officially recall you."

She gave Kakashi a dangerous look. "That sounds like a threat."

"It's not meant as one!" He said quickly. "But the Fire Daimyo is not someone easily refused."

"Whether I go back or not will be my decision Kakashi! No one else's!" Tsunade said furiously. "As a matter of fact I don't think I will…"

"Lady Tsunade! Lady Tsunade!" Shizune cried excitedly.

"What is it Shizune?"

"Look! Just look!" She was pointing excitedly to the craps table where a crowd had formed.

"What's going on?"

"It's Naruto!" Shizune said excitedly. "He just six straight passes!"

"Seven! Winner!" The dealer sang out as the crowd gave a hearty cheer.

"Make it seven straight!" Shizune said in amazement

Tsunade stared at the crowd that had the boy completely hidden from view. "Has he been doubling up with each bet?"

Shizune nodded.

"If he started with 50,000 and doubled it seven times," Kakashi did the math in his head. "That would come to 6,400,000."

"NARUTO STOP THROWING!" Tsunade screamed and forced her way into the crowd to the twelve year old's side.

She got there just as he was about to throw again. He looked up at her in surprise. "Why? I thought I was doing pretty good."

She quickly took the dice from him. She had no sense of discretion when it came to her own gambling, but when someone else was involved she still seemed to understand what odds were. She looked to the dealer. "I'm cashing out."

The crowd moaned but she couldn't care less. "Naruto," Tsunade said sweetly. "Before we head back to Konoha how would you like to learn how to play poker?"

XXXXXXXXXX

In a large mansion just outside the city of Fukushima Gato was in his office going over the latest acquisition he had in mind. A minor shipping company he was interested in was refusing to sell. He'd had some quiet discussions with the owner's brother who would inherit the business if anything _unfortunate _happened to him. The current owner would have a little accident and the buyout would go through, and at a lower price too. It was all just part of doing business.

He loved business and he loved making money. He had figured out a long time ago that human life wasn't worth much. If killing the right people improved the bottom line then he never gave it a second thought.

The whole thing in Wave country had been a perfect example. The people there had still been trying to oppose him. If that damn bridge had been completed all his investments would have been lost. Killing that old drunk had finally put an end to that and snuffed out the last hopes of the locals. Now most of the Wave's economy went straight into his pockets. Sure the people there were on the verge of starvation, but so what?

The one and only regret was that Zabuza and Haku had gotten away before the Mist Hunter nins could arrive. But that was all right. He had a small army guarding him and the local Lord was in his debt… literally. No nuke nin would dare come here, and sooner or later Zabuza's luck would run out.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

He looked over to his window to see a raven sitting on the ledge tapping its beak against the window. Grunting he decided to ignore it and keep working.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

He glared at the bird. The bird didn't seem to realize just who he was bothering.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

He could call a servant in but that would waste time. He got up from behind the desk to shoo the annoying bird away.

"Get out of here you damn bird!" He opened the window.

Out of nowhere a whole flock of ravens stormed into his office.

"Hey! Hey get off of me!" Gato shouted and waved his arms about furiously.

They seemed to listen and vanished. In their place was a man in a black cloak with a raven mask on. Even as Gato was inhaling to shout for his guards a hand clamped down over his mouth.

"Look into my eyes Gato and accept your just punishment." A cold unfeeling voice whispered.

Panicked Gato did just that, looking into bizarre red eyes and feeling himself slip away.

XXXXXXXXXX

He found himself in a colorless landscape beneath a full moon. He was chained to a post with his wrist bound painfully above his head.

"What… what is this place?!" He screamed.

"This is Tsukuyomi," the same emotionless voice answered. "Here I control time, space, and even matter. My orders are to torture you as much as possible before killing you. The Hokage intends that your punishment fit the crime, so for the next seventy two hours I will cut you into pieces."

Gato was speechless as a dozen copies of the man slowly approached him, each holding a sword in his hands. "Wait! Do you know who I am?!" He cried.

"You are the shipping magnate Gato," the other man replied. "More importantly you are the individual who hired Momochi Zabuza and caused the death of the leaf ninja Haruno Sakura. For this the Hokage has ordered your torture and death."

"I'm a billionaire damn it!" He screamed. "My life is worth a million times more than some common ninja!"

"In your eyes I am sure that is so, obviously you are a man who values only money. Fortunately my Hokage is a man of honor. I would not expect you to understand what that means. I will also not bother trying to explain as there is little point."

All twelve versions hacked into him, cutting off his arms and legs chopping into his ribs and belly. None of the wounds were fatal and he stayed conscious and able to feel every last cut. His screams and cries for mercy did not affect the ninja in the least.

At last, mercifully, he died.

Or thought he did.

Miraculously he awoke still chained to the post, his body whole again and the twelve copies standing in front of him patiently holding their swords.

"I will torture you for seventy two hours," the ninja repeated. "Seventy one hours, fifty nine minutes and fifty nine seconds remain."

Before the ninjas even started cutting again Gato was screaming.

XXXXXXXXXX

In the real world Gato pitched over and collapsed without a sound.

Itachi carefully checked his pulse, there was none. A middle aged man with high levels of stress it was not surprising that the extended torture session would be more than his heart could stand. There was not a mark on his body, no sign of forced entry, no sign of a struggle, the cause of death would be stress related heart attack.

Itachi left the way he'd come in, careful to close the window behind him.


	13. Imperfect Heroes

"So that's how your mother and I nearly killed him after we caught him peeking on us in the baths."

They were on the deck of a boat heading back to Konoha. Tsunade hadn't wanted to leave, she had won over 22 million ryu in just a couple days having Naruto play for her. She staked him and gave him some advice but otherwise she just stood back and watched her little money maker rake in the cash. She was sure that in just a couple weeks she could have owned the whole damned island.

Unfortunately Kakashi had stated that he and his team were going back to the village with or without her. Ultimately she'd decided to return, and so she and Shizune were on this ship heading back to Fire country.

She really did want to get to know Naruto better so she was telling him and his teammates stories from her past. Naruto had especially wanted to hear about Jiraiya, or as he called him, 'The Great Jiraiya.' Right now He was looking at her with his jaw hanging open. Kiba was laughing while little Hinata was a furious shade of red.

"Hold it!" Naruto said loudly. "Are you telling me that the great Jiraiya, my father's sensei, the man who saved my father's life and sacrificed himself for the village was a… a _pervert_?!"

Tsunade smiled at him. "No, I'm not saying Jiraiya was a pervert."

"Oh good," Naruto said in relief.

"I'm saying he was a **super **pervert," she said with a laugh. "He was the most single mindedly, underhandedly, sneakiest, and most lecherous man who ever snuck out of a geisha house without paying. _That's _what I'm saying."

"No way!" Naruto cried defiantly. "No way could he have been like that!"

She sighed and shook her head. "Listen brat, I was his teammate for a lot of years and I knew him as well as anybody, and that includes your father. He was a complete total and utter pervert. Believe it."

Naruto stubbornly shook his head. "No way! My dad has told me all about him. He never once mentioned him doing anything like that. He sure never mentioned him peeping on my mom!"

"You got the sanitized version of events I see," Tsunade said dryly. "Listen brat the only reason you've never heard of this is because your father and other people don't want to talk about his failings now that he's gone. But he _did_ peek on your mom and me, though Kushina wasn't married to your father yet at that time."

Naruto looked over to his sensei for support. At the moment he was leaning against a bulkhead with a small paperback entitled, 'I Know Why They Light the Red Lantern.' "Hey Kakashi-sensei, in that story she says you were trying to perform a citizen's arrest on Jiraiya while he was peeping. That never happened, right?"

Kakashi looked up from his book. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Naruto growled. "Sensei you knew Jiraiya too right?"

"Of course I did," Kakashi agreed. "Your father introduced me to him when I first became his student."

"So you knew him pretty well then?"

"That's right," Kakashi agreed.

"And he wasn't a pervert at all right?"

Kakashi looked back at his book. "No comment."

Tsunade began laughing while Naruto looked just plain horrified.

XXXXXXXXXX

When they returned to Konoha there was a small crowd at the gate to welcome them.

Tsunade noticed immediately that among them was a handsome man in white and red robes. He was surrounded by clan heads and other elite ninja of the village including the now retired Sarutobi. Obviously he had come to welcome her back. Tsunade braced herself, not sure exactly what she wanted to say to him after all these years. But before she could say anything Naruto beat her to it.

"Dad!" He said loudly. "Is it true Jiraiya was a big perv?"

Some of the younger ninja in the crowd looked shocked. A few of the older ones began to laugh though. Nara Shikaku especially found that absolutely hilarious. Sarutobi shook his head.

Minato looked shocked as well, then he glanced at Tsunade and understanding dawned. "We'll talk about it later son." He sounded resigned.

Naruto nearly collapsed at that answer; he needed Hinata to hold him up.

Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage of Konoha, the legendary Yellow Flash then offered Tsunade a singular honor by bowing very low to her. "Welcome home Senju Tsunade."

Tsunade really appreciated the gesture and gave him a returning bow. Even so she couldn't resist getting a little dig in. "It's a much better welcome then I got last time."

He looked back at her coolly. "It's also a much happier day."

_Hmm, I guess he isn't totally over it. _She thought. "You mentioned my coming home, but to be honest I'm not sure Konoha is home anymore."

"If it's not then where is your home these days?" Minato asked.

"Pretty much wherever I lay my head down at night," she said.

"Speaking of which, since you no longer own any property in the village why don't you and your apprentice some stay with me at the mansion?"

She hadn't expected that, especially not after sniping at him. "I _would _really like that. Especially since it would give me a chance to get to know Naruto a little better. And, maybe mend some fences with you as well Minato."

"I would like that as well, obaasan."

It was good to hear him call her 'auntie' again.

XXXXXXXXXX

"What's wrong Naruto-sama?" Kaede asked with real concern. "You have barely touched my special ramen. By now you should be on your second bowl."

"My life is a lie," Naruto said melodramatically. He looked at the head maid and his former nanny with a sliver of hope. "Kaede, how well did you know Jiraiya?"

"Quite well," she answered. "He was your father's sensei after all and visited him here often."

"Was he a pervert?" Naruto asked straight out.

"Yes," Kaede answered straight out.

He looked at her in disappointment. "If that's so why did you lie to me about him?"

The old maid lifted a single snow white eyebrow. "I do not believe I ever did lie about him Naruto-sama. I cannot recall a single time I ever told you, 'Jiraiya was not a pervert' or 'Jiraiya did not peep at women in the bath house.'"

"But you said he was a hero and a great man and a great ninja like everyone else did!" Naruto said accusingly.

"I did, he was, and so? What does that have to do with his perverted nature?"

"But how could he have been a great ninja and a pervert at the same time?"

"It turns out he managed it rather easily," Kaede said. "Whether you like it or not Naruto-sama people have flaws. In real life they are not as pure and perfect people we'd like them to be. Such people exist only in stories and in legend." She explained patiently. "The truth is Jiraiya was a great ninja, a great teacher, and a great man. He did save your father's life. He did save this village from the Kyuubi. He did also read dirty books, peep on women, and sleep around like a rabbit in heat."

Naruto sputtered and turned red.

"None of which changes any of the brave things he did or makes them any less deserving of respect. I am sorry of one of your heroes is not what you pictured him to be, but if you look close I think you will find every hero has at least a few flaws."

"Even dad?" Naruto asked.

"Oh certainly," Kaede said. "I can think of one huge flaw he has right off the top of my head."

"What is it?" Naruto asked nervously, not sure he wanted to know.

"He is completely addicted to ramen." Kaede said in that serious way she always said everything.

Naruto stared at her for a second before he burst out laughing.

After that he finally found his appetite.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Thank you for letting me stay here Minato," Tsunade said. "I really do appreciate it you know."

"It's all right auntie," Minato told her. "To be honest… I'm still a little bit angry at you for what happened."

"Minato if I had known what would happen I would have come! I swear to you I never once thought Kushina could die in childbirth!"

"I know, I know," he said nodding his head. "She was a strong woman. If the Kyuubi hadn't come…" he let out a long sad sigh. "I know it's not fair to blame you for what happened, but I can't seem to help it. I suppose it's a bit like the way you blame Sarutobi and the village for Dana and Nawaki."

"No it's not!" She said immediately. "That's totally different!"

"How?"

She opened her mouth, but when she really stopped to compare the circumstances there really wasn't anything she could point to. She had not meant for Kushina to die and had not deliberately caused her to. Sarutobi had not meant for either Nawaki or Dan to die and had not deliberately caused them too. The village could be blamed only if she was going to blame all ninja villages or the entire ninja system. Konoha had been at war and her ninja had been called on to fight for her. They had died for the village, but there had never been any deliberate intent to harm either of them.

"I… I can understand the need to blame someone when you suffer a terrible loss," she answered slowly. "Maybe… maybe it's best to try and at least forgive as much as you can, even if you can't forgive completely."

Minato nodded. "That's how I feel, even if there is still a little bit of anger, I would like you to come back to return to the village."

She thought about it. There was nowhere else that she could call home. Except for Shizune Naruto and Minato were the people she most wanted to see and protect. Shizune had often spoken of returning here and would be glad to finally end their nomadic ways.

"I think, I would like that."


	14. Hiatus

Hello everyone. This is to inform all my readers that I am placing all my stories on hiatus until at **least** the end of the year. I am very sorry but I have no real choice. I am a senior accounting student at the University of South Florida and am gearing up for my finals and trying to graduate with my BA. After which I have lots of other things I need to deal with, not least of which is trying to find a good job in this economy.

I absolutely **love** writing. I love reading your reviews and messages, except when they smell of napalm of course. And while I write for myself please be assured I have always been amazed and honored to see so many people putting my stories on their favorites and alert lists. It has been a very great pleasure writing all these stories, and it has made me extremely happy to know how many of you honestly enjoyed what I wrote.

I thank you all.

But it's because I love writing so much that I have to stop for awhile. My writing has become my addiction and my keyboard my escape from the world's problems. So I need to walk away for awhile and put all my energies and time into real life problems.

I still plan on coming back as I love writing too much to ever stop for good and I don't want to leave my stories unfinished. This is not goodbye, just so long for now.

LOTLOF


	15. A funeral on a sunny day

**Author's Note: **To all my readers, I will once again be updating my stories. However from this point on I expect my updates will come at a slower rate as I have less free time these days. While I really do appreciate all of you who have taken the time to read my work I ask that people not leave reviews or send me PMs simply to ask me to update a particular story. I'll remind everyone that this is a hobby for me and not my profession; I don't have deadlines for anything I post here. I do promise to try and finish everything I have written, I just don't know how long that will take.

XXX

It was a beautiful Fall day. The leaves were just beginning to fall from the trees and there was the occasional strong breeze that would hint that winter was coming. It was a day to spend by a lake or in the woods. It seemed wrong to waste such a beautiful day on such a sad event.

The memorial service was not especially well attended. Haruno Sakura had died too young to have caused many ripples. Like too many other Genin she had been killed on her first real mission. Her name had already been carved into the memorial stone, a permanent reminder that she had lived and given her life in service to her village. But fewer than a hundred people attended her memorial. She _did _receive the honor of having the Hokage there as both a mourner and as the one to lead the ceremony.

Her parents were there of course as well as a small handful of uncles, aunts, and cousins. Iruka came to honor one of his students. Her former sensei Kurenai was there. After reporting to the Hokage she had gone to Sakura's parents to inform them, of her tragic death and to return to them her hitai-ite and other possessions. She apologized to them for her failure to protect their daughter and accepted the full blame for her death.

Her teammates were there, representing the Aburame clan and the disgraced Uchiha. A number of her former classmates came to honor her memory; Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru, Chiouji, and Ino. As Ino laid down a white chrysanthemum she silently took a kunai and sliced off her pony tail.

Naruto laid down his flower in front of the photograph of a smiling pink haired girl. It didn't seem real. It was hard to believe he would never see her again. He had lost his mom and godfather of course, but this was the first time he'd lost someone he'd known.

When he went back to his proper place he watched as Sasuke placed down a flower as well. He looked sad. Naruto wondered how much Sasuke was feeling. He had lost his father and a lot of his family. He knew what it really meant to grieve. What did he feel about Sakura? He momentarily thought about asking him but quickly dismissed the notion. Knowing Sasuke he would immediately clam up and insist he didn't feel a thing. The proud Uchiha would never admit to any weakness, especially not to him.

XXX

When the ceremony came to an end his father took time to speak with the Harunos. Naruto even knew for a fact that his dad and Sakura's mom Mai had been classmates. He said a quiet goodbye to his teammates and told them he would head home with his dad. He kept a respectful distance as his father spoke to Sakura's parents and offered them what comfort he could. What could he say to them that would make losing their only child any easier? Words like 'duty' 'honor' 'obligation' had to pale beside the realization that she was gone forever. He watched her mom cry against her husband's chest as his father nodded sympathetically.

At last when he had done what he could his father came over to him and they headed home.

As they walked through the streets people greeted them as usual, though they were a bit taken aback to see them dressed in mourning clothes.

"You've been quiet," the Hokage said as they neared the mansion. "What's on your mind?"

"I'm just thinking that Sakura didn't deserve to die like that," Naruto said solemnly. "She tried so hard to be the best ninja she could, then on her very first real mission…" He shook his head sadly.

"I know, she did nothing wrong and did not deserve her fate. But that's true of most ninja. She just ran into a far stronger opponent and that was all." He decided not to bring up Kurenai's questionable decision to continue their mission despite knowing the increased danger. "This is the hard reality of what it means to be a ninja. From the time I started teaching you how to fight I have always told you that the shinobi way is the way of death and every shinobi must be ready to kill or die at any moment."

Naruto could only nod. That was something his father and all his instructors had drilled into him for as long as he could remember. He'd always understood that being a ninja was a serious business and not something for those who were faint of heart.

"Knowing about it and dealing with it are different though."

"That's true son," his father agreed. "No matter how much you understand it the first time you kill and the first time you lose someone is always a shock. My father died on a mission when I was only 9. Every time he left he made a point to say goodbye to me just in case it was for the last time. I was always scared he wouldn't come back. Yet when I heard he was gone it was still a shock." He placed a hand on his son's shoulder and gave him a serious look. "This won't be the last time either. You need to know you will lose more precious people, there's no avoiding it when most of your friends are ninja."

He thought about the people he cared about. His dad, Kakashi, Kaede, Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Shino, and even Sasuke. He didn't want to ever go to another memorial service and see one of their photos on display.

"What can I do to protect them?" He asked sounding very serious.

His father let out a heavy sigh. He was thinking about his former teammates, his sensei, and Kushina. "You can be the best ninja possible and always take your duties seriously. When you're older you can try to be the best leader possible and protect everyone who depends on you. But know this son," he spoke in a stern tone. "No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, you cannot save everyone. And there will be times when you will have to deliberately sacrifice some in order to save others. That too is part of being shinobi."

Naruto looked up at his father as he carefully pondered his words. "Being Hokage is hard isn't it dad?"

"Yes it is, but it's still worth doing even so. I know I can't save everyone, but I can protect as many people as I can. That's what makes being Hokage worthwhile." He gave Naruto a slight grin. "Even with all the paperwork."

Naruto considered that. "All right, I've decided."

"Hmmm? Decided what?"

Naruto smiled. "I'm going to Hokage one day."

XXX

It was a week later and Sasuke and Shino were waiting at training ground 1. They were at long last getting their new sensei assigned to them along with a new teammate.

"Who do you speculate we will be assigned as sensei?" Shino inquired in his usual monotone.

"Some mid-level Chunin I'll bet," Sasuke said with disinterest. "It's not like the Hokage would waste his best on trying to teach an Uchiha."

He'd been brooding on Sakura's death for the past week. He was determined he would never ever lose another teammate. He was going to become the best ninja in the village. Now not only to restore his clan's honor but to protect his teammates as well.

"Sasuke?" A female voice called. "What are you doing here?"

He was surprised to see his cousin entering the training ground. "Hisa? Why are you here?"

She shrugged. "I was reassigned to a new squad. I didn't expect to be joining you and your friend though." She nodded politely to his teammate. "Hello, I am Uchiha Hisa, Sasuke's cousin."

Shino returned the gesture. "I am Aburame Shino, I welcome you to our squad."

"I see," Sasuke said unhappily. "The Hokage's going to dump two Uchiha's with some third rate sensei and then forget about us. It figures."

"You do not give the Yondaime enough credit," a voice spoke from within a cloud of smoke.

All three ninja instinctively drew weapons and surrounded the new arrival.

"Minato does not hold grudges against those who have done him no harm. What was done to your clan Sasuke was justice whether you choose to recognize it or not. Give the Hokage the credit he deserves."

The smoke cleared away to reveal an old figure dressed in black ninja gear. All three members of team eight gasped as soon as they recognized him.

"Lord Sarutobi!" Hisa cried in astonishment. "Why are you here?"

"Painting was not as satisfying as I thought it would be and I wanted to do something a bit more active. I asked the Yondaime if there were any teams that needed a sensei. He recommended this squad." Actually it was Minato who had come to him asking for a favor. He wanted to give these three the best possible instruction and help them become great ninja.

Sarutobi grinned at the still stunned Sasuke. "I trust you do not consider this old man to be a third rate sensei."

Sasuke immediately offered him a deep and respectful bow. "Lord Sarutobi I would be very deeply honored to have you as my sensei."

The others quickly followed his example declaring they would be happy to serve under him.

XXX

About three weeks later the Hokage gathered together all the senseis in the village.

"I think you can all guess what this is about." He said. "The Chunin Selection Exams will be shortly held in this village. I wish to know how many of our squads are ready to take them. Let's start with this year's rookie teams. Do any of you feel your squads are ready for the exams?"

He was not surprised when Kakashi stepped forward; his former student had told him before hand he would be nominating his team. He was a bit surprised when Asuma stepped forward to nominate team 10 and was _very _surprised when Sarutobi also stepped forward.

"On the honor of my clan the Sarutobi, I declare that squad eight comprising Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Hisa, and Aburame Shino stand ready to face the trials."

"They must be fast learners," Minato commented. "Well alright then, we'll see what the kids can do.


	16. Begin the Chunin Selection Exams

Sasuke was drenched in sweat and panting. His knees had a slight tremble to them and his back bent a bit. Sarutobi recognized all of these as signs of exhaustion. Given the number of jutsus he'd performed he would not have been surprised if the boy were nearing chakra exhaustion as well.

"Enough Sasuke! That is more than enough! The Selection exams begin tomorrow; there is no point in exhausting yourself now."

Despite his obvious weariness the boy stubbornly shook his head. "I have to do more! This is my chance to begin restoring my clan's name! I intend to win and show the whole village an Uchiha's strength."

"I am well aware how important it is for you to do well tomorrow," Sarutobi replied patiently. "It is because of that you should go home and get a good night's sleep. The exams are always very difficult and you need to be fully rested. Nothing you gain from more training now will be worth beginning the exams tired."

"Listen to him Sasuke," his cousin Hisa said. "Do you want to fall on your face from exhaustion while everyone's watching?"

"Fine," he said. He still wanted to train but their arguments made too much sense to just ignore.

"Now remember, while I will be available to you between stages I am not allowed to assist you during the exams themselves. The three of you will be on your own and need to work together and rely on each other." Sarutobi told them. "You will be competing against the top Genin squads from throughout the Elemental Lands. It's very rare for rookie squads to be nominated, the fact that three of you are competing is something of an aberration. The teams you will be facing will be older and much more experienced. Many of them will see you as soft targets and will deliberately seek you out. When the competition begins do not lower your guards for even a moment or you may well die. Deaths are a regular part of these exams."

Sasuke nodded his head seriously. "Don't worry Sarutobi-sensei; I'm not taking this lightly."

Sarutobi nodded, the boy was fiercely driven and would definitely not take anything for granted. He'd only wished he's had more time to train them. All three showed great potential. He had hopes for all of them and believed all three could be Jonin one day. However they were still awfully young. Sasuke and Shino were 12 and Hisa only 15. No matter how confident Sasuke might be it was highly unlikely any of them would earn promotion, never mind actually win the exams. This would provide them valuable experience for the future.

Assuming they lived.

XXX

"I certainly hope you have found your accommodations in our village to your liking," Minato said. On the eve of the Chunin Selection Exams he had one of the squads in his office. Being Hokage meant, among other things, always dealing with politics both within and without the village. This meeting was designed to strengthen one of Konoha's alliances and help maintain the goodwill between two ninja villages.

"We have found our accommodations, more than satisfactory Lord Hokage," Baki said. "I certainly have no complaints about the hospitality we have received."

"Well it would be even better if there were a few more bars," Kankuro said.

His older sister slammed an elbow into his ribs followed by a warning look.

"Please ignore my brother Lord Hokage, he is joking," Temari said.

He rubbed the sore spot with one hand. "Right, just a little joke there."

"This land is so green and rich," Temari continued. "It's easy to see why Konoha is the strongest of the great villages."

Minato nodded politely. He'd been to Suna a few times, any place was likely to look green and lush by comparison. "Fire country is a fertile land certainly, in that we are very blessed."

"May I also say Lord Hokage," Temari continued. "What an honor it is to meet the legendary Yellow Flash. In my home village you are always spoken of with great respect, almost awe."

Kankuro smirked. "I hear in Iwa moms tell their brats to be good or you'll come for them."

"Well that's something I could do without," he said with a slight frown. Since the end of the war relations with Earth country and the village of Iwa had remained decidedly rocky. The war had originally begun with a border dispute between Fire and Earth and quickly escalated. Before the war the Rock nins had been loudly proclaiming themselves the strongest village, challenging Konoha's position. Their defeat had left them very clearly ranked as the second strongest.

Minato had hoped that Iwa might send some teams to participate in the exams. He'd even gone so far as to send the Tsuchikage some private correspondence encouraging him to do so. He'd received no response at all to his efforts and once again Iwa had chosen not to participate. The bitterness of a lost war had not diminished for them even after so many years. Earth country was rich in mineral wealth and had a larger population than Fire. Fifteen years had given them time to replace many of the ninja they had lost.

Given their strained relations Minato saw no reason to think Iwa would ever become a friend. They had the resources and manpower to still be a dangerous enemy. The peace between them was due solely to their respect of Konoha's strength. If they saw Konoha weaken another war would be a real possibility. Preventing that and safeguarding the village was part of the reason for the current meeting. The team was composed of the Kazekage's three children. The alliances with Suna and Kumo made Leaf much too powerful for Iwa to even think of attacking. Staying on good terms with his allies was vital.

"Being feared has its uses." Baki said.

"Yes very true," a soft voice said.

That came from Gaara, and was the first thing he'd said since entering the office. The red haired boy had dark circles beneath his eyes and carried a huge gourd in his back. While everyone else had stood right in front of the Hokage's desk he had deliberately hung back away from the rest. He had remained sullen and withdrawn during the entire meeting, not speaking a word.

Minato was very surprised to see his two siblings glancing back at him with anxious looks. Looks that were bordering on fearful. Why would a brother and sister be fearful of their younger sibling? When his sensei glanced at him he managed to keep whatever thoughts he had well hidden.

"Well I agree that in this world it is very useful to be feared," Minato spoke hoping to draw the boy into the conversation. "Though it is always better to be loved."

"I disagree," Gaara replied in his soft polite voice. Though quiet up until now he showed no concern about speaking his mind to the Fourth Hokage. "Love is worthless. Fear is the only thing that matters; it is the ultimate sign of respect."

"Gaara," Baki said carefully. "You should not argue with the Lord Hokage, especially when we are his guests."

"That's quite all right," Minato said. "I don't mind when someone disagrees with me." He turned his focus back to Gaara. "That's a rather harsh outlook though. If I may ask, if you think so little of love why do you have it tattooed onto your forehead?"

"It's a permanent reminder that I should love only myself."

That brought a disapproving frown. "Love only yourself? You mean you don't feel love for anyone else? What about your brother and sister here? Your sensei? Your father? Your friends? Your village?"

Gaara stared back at him with lifeless teal eyes. "I hate my village and my father. I have no friends. I respect sensei, that doesn't mean I love him or even care about him. As for these two," he nodded at Kankuro and Temari. "They're nothing to me."

Minato noted that the girl at least appeared saddened to hear that. Saddened, but not surprised. The older brother had no reaction at all. He couldn't help but wonder what sort of family life these three had.

"Perhaps it would be best if all of you returned to the hotel to rest for a bit, I will join you shortly." Baki said.

Gaara nodded and exited followed warily by Temari and Kankuro. As soon as they were gone Baki was bowing.

"Please forgive my student's rudeness; I assure you it was not intended."

"I don't take offense at someone telling me what they honestly believe. Though I will admit to being startled at hearing that from someone so young."

"Gaara has had a… difficult upbringing," Baki said looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Why? He is the son of the Kazekage. I would think he would have a problem with too much affection rather than too little."

"I fear it is a matter I cannot discuss," Baki replied. Politely but firmly declining to continue further. "I actually have a private message for you from the Kazekage about an important matter he hopes to discuss with you." He took out a sealed envelope and handed it over. He was immensely relieved that the Hokage accepted it without any further mention of Gaara.

Minato broke the wax seal and began reading the message. Private correspondence between Kages was nothing unusual. Official dispatches were for public issues where each man wanted his position stated for the record. Private messages like this were for matters that they did not want known.

Minato began reading it. About halfway through both his eyebrows jumped. He looked up at Baki. "Do you know what is written here?"

"Yes Lord Hokage, I do. I assure you that it is a matter of utmost importance to the Kazekage. One he hopes to discuss more fully with you when he arrives here for the finals."

"I see," Minato said with a blank expression.

"Does the Kazekage's proposal meet with your disapproval?"

"I didn't say that," Minato responded.

"Then you are in favor of it?"

"I didn't say that either." Minato carefully leaned back in his chair, deliberately giving no hint to his thoughts.

"Then what response shall I convey to the Kazekage?"

"Please tell the Yondaime Kazekage that I will consider his proposal very seriously and that I look forward to discussing it with him face to face when he arrives."

Baki nodded. He was not surprised that the Hokage was guarding his thoughts on the matter. That was only fair as his decision would have a huge impact of the relations between their two villages.

XXX

The exams were set to begin in room 301 of the academy at exactly noon. Sasuke and Hisa had both tried to wheedle any kind of information out of their sensei about what to expect. Sarutobi's reply had been succinct and to the point.

"Expect anything and everything," he had told them.

"Oh come on!" Hisa practically exploded. "I've been through three of these already!"

"Then you should already have a good idea of what to expect," Sarutobi told her.

"In general, yeah I do, but couldn't you at least give us a hint about the specifics?" Hisa asked.

"You want us to pass don't you?" Sasuke added.

"Certainly, but only if you are capable of doing it without undue influence from me. If you cannot pass these exams through your own strength it would be better for you to fail now and take them again when you are better prepared."

"I've already said I'm going to win these exams," Sasuke replied without an ounce of give.

"Then do so, but do not rely on any outside help from me. This is a test of your skills and abilities alone. Think of it as an A-rank mission with no intel. You must be prepared for anything because you have no idea what is there waiting for you."

"You're not making this easy," Hisa sighed.

"The exams are not supposed to be easy Hisa," Sarutobi chided. "Just the opposite, they are designed to be unfair and difficult in the extreme. Otherwise there would be little point to them."

"That's fine," Sasuke said. "The harder it is the more impressed people will be when we make Chunin."

XXX

Kakashi accompanied team 7 as far as the academy entrance. He was reading a magazine entitled, 'Bind Me Tightly.'

"Kakashi-sensei do you _have _to read that in public?" Hinata asked feeling deeply embarrassed.

"It's okay Hinata," he assured her. "I'm only interested in the articles I swear."

"Hey! We're about to enter the exams!" Naruto shouted trying to at least get Kakashi to look up from his magazine. "How about some advice or something?"

Kakashi kept reading. "Sure, try not to do anything really, really stupid."

"Hey! Don't you have any faith in us?" Naruto demanded. "It almost sounds like you expect us to do something stupid."

Now he finally did look up to grin at Naruto. "Do you _really _want me to answer that?"

Naruto began to sputter with rage as Kakashi put the magazine away. "Just do your best and I'll see you when you're done." He vanished in a swirl of wind and leaves.

"Great," Naruto muttered "He was about as much help as usual."

"Don't worry Naruto-kun," Hinata told him with a confident smile. "I'm sure we'll do fine."

XXX

Inside they ran into Neji and his squad. Hinata and her cousin wished each other good luck. When they arrived at room 301 the auditorium was packed. Not only with ninja squads but with men in dirty grey jumpsuits wearing chains about their hands and ankles. These men were obviously covicts from the local prison.

"What are they doing here?" Kiba asked startled.

"I've got no idea." Naruto said.

XXX

"Why are there prisoners here?" Hisa asked.

Sasuke had spotted the arrival of Naruto and his team but had made no effort to speak to him. This was not the time or place for chit chat. They were all in competition now and he wanted to beat Naruto especially. "No idea, you're the one who's done this before."

"That doesn't mean I know anything useful." Hisa told him. "The specific tests are always different. What I can tell you is that the first test will likely be some type of test of skill or intelligence. If we pass that the second test always involves serious combat. The first two phases are team oriented, if we get to the third and final test it will be one on one combat between finalists."

Sasuke imagined facing Naruto in the finals and beating him with all Konoha watching. He was day dreaming about it when there was a massive cloud of smoke followed by the arrival of about a dozen ninja.

"All right! Quiet down maggots!" A burly nin with scars crossing his face called out. "My name is Morino Ibiki and I am the proctor for the first phase of the Chunin Selection Exams. "

The ninja in the room quickly quieted down to listen.

"I happen to be head of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation section of the ANBU. Now as you may have noticed we have some special guests with us today." He waved at the prisoners. "They're here to help us with your test. All of you will be conducting interrogations of these men. You will have to figure out who is telling the truth and who is lying to you."

He gave them all a cold ugly smile.

"If you can't you fail! Now listen up! I'm only going to explain the rules once!"

With that the exams were under way.


	17. Haiku

Ibiki took out a piece of chalk and began writing on the board. He wrote out once single word and underlined it.

INFORMATION

"To a ninja nothing is more valuable than good intel! The success of a mission, and your own worthless lives, often depend on what you know. Getting the right information at the right moment can save your lives or give you a chance to succeed where you would otherwise likely fail. Needless to say the reverse is true as well. If you believe the wrong thing you can find yourself in the middle of an ambush. More importantly it can wreck an operation. As ninja you swim in a sea of deception and lies, being able to separate what is real from what is false is absolutely vital!"

He paused to look them over. They were all paying attention to him, but he saw only a handful of worries faces. Obviously most of them were thinking this would be a snap. That was what he wanted.

"Out in the field you will often have to question prisoners to find out what you need to know. In such a situation they will of course try to deceive you. It is an absolutely essential skill to be able to extract what you need from someone who is absolutely determined not to give it to you. Our guests," he motioned to the prisoners. "Are all serving long prison sentences with little or no hope of parole; however they have been promised certain inducements that will make their time much more pleasant. **If **they can succeed in fooling you or denying you the information. These men therefore have nothing to lose and everything to gain by causing you to fail. They are highly motivated and will not just give you what you want. You'll have to take it from them!"

He turned back towards the chalkboard.

"Now here are the rules," he began writing on the board again. "First rule, you are not permitted to kill or permanently injure your prisoner. This does not mean you are forbidden to use physical violence if you wish." He gave them all a soulless grin. "You can beat the hell out of them if you like. However you are not permitted to actually kill them, break any bones, injure any organs, or do anything else that would be considered permanent like giving them a nice new scar." He ran a finger over one of his own. "Breaking this rule results in immediate failure and disqualification from these exams. Within these limits though you can do anything you want to these men with any weapon, tool, or jutsu."

"Second rule, you will have to declare to an instructor what you believe the truth is. The prisoners have been given a specific piece of information which you need to get out of them. Each team will be assigned a room and one of my subordinates who will be present to make sure rule one isn't violated and to act as your superior in receiving the information. It's not enough to get the information; you also have to be able to recognize it as such. So just getting him to confess won't be enough unless you can also figure out he's telling you what you need. When you believe you have the right intel you will have to inform the instructor. If you give him the wrong information you fail immediately! In a real mission believing and passing on false info to a superior would lead to disaster. Therefore you get only one chance to get it right! If you believe a lie enough to pass it on you obviously have no business as Chunin."

"Third rule, you have a one hour time limit that begins when your instructor tells you. If you do not have the information by then you fail."

He paused to let all the rules sink in; he saw more concern than before but most still seemed sure they would pass.

"Any questions?" No one raised a hand or spoke. "All right then and instructor will bring you to your room with one of the prisoners. Good luck to all of you."

XXX

In room 206 a prisoner sat down in a too small seat and faced the ninja. He had lucked out and been assigned to a team of children. He was sure that he could withstand anything they could do to him for an hour.

"All right," the instructor said. "You can begin." He leaned against a wall, and became a casual observer.

The blonde girl stepped forward with an ingratiating smile. "I think I should warn you that this will go much better for you if you just give up now and tell us the information.

He kept his mouth shut and remained silent.

She sighed. "Well I tried to warn you."

That was when he heard an odd sound. Looking over to the red haired boy she was sand spilling out onto the floor. He began to feel nervous as he saw it begin to creep towards him, moving on its own.

"Remember Gaara you can't kill him," the girl said.

"I know," the red haired boy answered sounding slightly frustrated. "I'm going to try and enjoy this anyway."

All at once the sand leapt up and began to scour him. He opened his mouth to shout only to have the sand fill his mouth, nose and throat. His eyes were covered and he was encased unable to move. He began to choke and suffocate, literally buried alive in that sand. He was held like that for only one minute.

When he could breathe again he was only too eager to tell them what they needed to know.

XXX

One of the absolute basic truths of a shinobi's life was that only another shinobi could understand it. No matter how close he might become to others only fellow shinobi could really know what it meant to be a living weapon always prepared to kill or to die at any moment. Namikaze Minato was no exception. He had always treasured the close ties he'd had with his fellow leaf nins and had hated the distance that had started to grow as he first became the Yellow Flash and then Hokage. As such he'd made a special rule; whenever he appeared in his trench coat and Jonin vest no one was allowed to call him Hokage. For these short periods he was just Minato.

When he entered the Copper Cellar, a favorite bar, he was greeted by name. A handful of Genin tried to address him as Hokage-sama and had their mouths covered by their fellows.

Minato was making his way to the bar when a couple arms grabbed him around the chest. Even through his trench coat he could feel a pair of large breasts press into his back.

"Long time no see cutie!" Yamanaka Dita said with an impish grin. She was a mother and had been happily married to Inoichi for more than thirteen years now. Even so she couldn't resist teasing her one time crush.

Minato knew she was only teasing and so didn't mind responding to it. "Aw Dita-chan, you know I was always secretly in love with you."

She rolled her eyes and giggled. "Oh great, you tell me that _now_."

"Sensei!" Kakashi called waving him over to a table.

"Hmmph, looks like you're getting away again. Story of my life." Dita let him go with a quick kiss on the cheek. "Call me some time handsome, if it's you I can always get a divorce."

"You're kidding right?"

She slinked away grinning back at him. "Maybe."

When Minato came over to where Kakashi was sitting his former student was grinning beneath his mask. "Does Inoichi know?"

"Don't start," Minato sat down and ordered a beer.

"So how do you think the kids are doing?" He knew only that Ibiki was the proctor for the first phase. He had no idea what sort of test it was. Given Ibiki's reputation it was likely to be torture.

"I think Naruto and his team will manage," Minato said. "I also have high hopes for Sasuke and his squad as well."

Kakashi glanced over at his sensei. From the very beginning he had believed his sensei to be the very best of men. In all the years they had known each other he had never seen anything to make him question that opinion.

"You really have no resentment against Sasuke at all do you?"

"Why would I? He had nothing to do with the plot. You can't blame the son for the actions of the father."

"A lot of the villagers don't feel that way."

"I know," Minato said sadly. "I had to punish the entire clan for the coup attempt, after that though things were settled. Unfortunately I can't force everyone to treat Sasuke and the remaining Uchiha fairly. Even a Hokage's authority has its limits."

"Too bad Sasuke doesn't see things that way. He blames everything that happened on you and not on his father for trying to overthrow you."

"That's certainly easier for him than facing up to the harsh reality." He gave Kakashi a raised eyebrow. "Young boys have a hard time when a father is taken from them, in time they come to accept things as they are not as they'd like them to be."

Kakashi winced slightly. He recalled what he's been like as a boy trying to deal with his father's suicide. "Point taken," he said.

Minato took a long pull on his beer. He had come here wanting to talk to his friend as one ninja and man to another. The setting though was wrong for the kind of talk he wanted to have. "Say Kakashi, care to take a walk with me?"

"You only just got here."

"I feel like taking a walk with a friend," Minato said.

"All right sensei," he finished his beer. "But please don't try anything; I only like you as a friend."

"Oh I know," Minato said innocently. "It's not like we ever shared a bath together… like you and Obito did that one time."

Beneath his mask Kakashi paled. "You swore never to mention that again! And nothing happened; we just didn't have time to take separate baths!"

"If you say so, though you certainly did seem to enjoy having your back scrubbed."

"Sensei!"

XXX

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

The convict's eyes were wide as saucers. First he'd been hog tied and left by the wall unable to move. Then a crazy girl dressed in pink had started throwing knives at him! The last few had come less than a hair from his throat. He was staring at the razor sharp blade that was half imbedded into the wall.

"What are you doing? That could have killed me!"

"Yosh!" A boy in a green leotard called out. "There is nothing to fear! Tenten will surely not miss!"

"Unless of course you start shaking too much," the girl said pleasantly flipping a kunai up in one hand. "Then who knows."

Hearing that he couldn't keep from shaking. "You, you're not allowed to kill me or do me permanent damage to me."

The girl turned to her other teammate who was sitting on the teacher's desk just looking on pleasantly. "If I accidentally slice open his jugular would that count as permanent damage?"

"Don't know," the other boy responded. "I suppose it all depends on whether or not you leave a scar I guess."

"Assuming he doesn't bleed to death," she said.

"Well yes, assuming that."

"Okay! I'll tell you what you want."

"**Byakugan." **The veins about the boy's pale eyes popped up, giving him an ugly deformed look. "I'm listening."

"The info is that the Second Phase of the exams will be held outside the village."

His teammates both looked at him expectantly.

"He's lying," the boy said.

In an instant a kitchen drawer's worth of knives headed for the man's head and neck.

"Hey! I'm telling the truth I swear it!"

"No you're not," the boy said. "When a person lies his heart beat increases. It's nothing you can control; it's a biological response that's hard wired into the body. There's no point to lying as I can tell every time. Now let's hear the truth before my teammate misses."

Seeing he was beaten and not wanting to get killed or maimed by accident he gave in. "All right fine. The message is …"

XXX

The instructor nodded. "That is correct, your team passes."

Shikamaru grinned and looked at his blonde teammate. "You know even though you're loud and troublesome there are times when you're pretty useful."

"Shut up you lazy jerk!" She punched him in the arm making the lazy Nara boy wince. "Who are you calling troublesome?"

As Shikamaru rubbed his arm Chouji spoke up trying to lighten the mood. "You really did great Ino! I don't know what we would have done without you."

Hearing Chouji's praise pleased her, especially after listening to Shika's remarks. "Well of course! I know you boys would be lost without me. The message was pretty interesting too."

"It was a haiku," Shikamaru noted looking at her. "That's a kind of poem."

"I know what a haiku is jerk!" She punched him again even harder.

XXX

He was bound to a post surrounded by fire. He could feel the heat from the flamed through his clothes and could smell the smoke filling his lungs.

"Stop It! I'll talk! Stop it I beg you!"

In an instant the scene around him vanished and he was once again in a class room. The girl facing him still had those inhuman red eyes peering at him.

"I apologize for putting you through that," she told him sounding sincere. Since activating her sharingan she'd discovered not only that it was a huge help with physical combat and copying jutsus but had also made her genjutsus even more effective. She could capture most Genin in them; a civilian had no hope of resisting or breaking free. "Please give me the information we need."

"Fine then," he said and recited the lines of a haiku. "That's the information you were after."

Hisa glanced over at Sasuke. Even though she was older and more experienced he had made himself their leader. It had nothing to do with who his father had been, it was his strength of purpose and his will.

"I think he is telling the truth."

"I concur," Shino agreed.

Sasuke looked over at the instructor. "We believe this to be the correct message."

The ninja deliberately hesitated just a bit to make them sweat. "That is the right information. Your team passes, return to room 301 and wait there for further instructions."

XXX

In room 116

"You have ten minutes left," the instructor told them.

All three members of team 7 looked at one another. They'd assumed this would be easy. How hard could it be to get someone to tell you something? Once they were in the room though they realized that none of them knew genjutsu or any other jutsu specifically designed to gain information. Since the prisoner already knew they could not kill him death threats were useless. That left them nothing but physical compulsion. Neither Naruto nor Kiba enjoyed hitting someone who couldn't hit back. They were ninja though and had been trained that you did whatever the mission required regardless of whether or not it was pleasant.

They'd taken turns hitting him while he was tied up to a chair. His nose was broken and his lips split. Tomorrow he would be covered in bruises. The man though had been a gang member and a killer, he'd been taking and receiving vicious beatings his whole life. For him this was just one more, and not even the worst. He kept giving them false information in hopes they would fail, but with Hinata there was no chance of that.

Now only ten minutes were left and they had no new ideas about how to get what they needed.

Looking uncomfortable Hinata spoke up. "Ah, can I try something?"

"Sure," Naruto said. He was starting to feel desperate. He didn't want his team to fail, especially not like this.

Hinata approached the bloodied convict and bowed to him, a clan heir to a convicted murderer. "I apologize for doing this to you."

Naruto had been sparring with her and Neji since he was 6 and was intimately familiar with jyuuken or gentle fist. When Hinata was fighting she always had her palms open and flat. He immediately noticed that now she had her hand closed with the index and middle fingers extended.

"**Byakugan." **With her blood line active she hit him seven or eight times in the chest and shoulders.

There was a delay of about five seconds, and then suddenly the man was screaming his head off. "Yaaah!! AHHH!! Ahhh!! Auugh! Stop! Stop! I'll talk!!"

Naruto and Kiba were amazed, then guy had barely made a sound the entire time they'd beat him.

"Hinata-chan that's incredible! How did you do that?" Naruto asked.

She quickly struck him in the same spots again and he calmed down. "Nerve clusters," she explained. "With pressure in the correct points you can remove all feeling or cause intense pain."

"How come you didn't do this at the start?" Kiba asked.

She looked down feeling embarrassed. "This isn't something I enjoy doing, but it was a last resort so I used it."

"Thanks Hinata-chan! You really saved us." Naruto also made a mental note to never, ever, **ever **get Hinata mad at him.

"Let's hear the information," Kiba barked. "And it better be true this time."

"Sure," the prisoner said, he's sooner he stabbed five times than feel that again. "The message is a haiku." He recited it.

'_If duty is done.'_

'_And honor is satisfied.'_

'_What is left to fear?'_

Naruto gave a sour grunt. "You have got to be kidding me."

Hinata nodded, recognizing it as well.

Kiba was lost. "What? Is it something special?"

Naruto looked at him. "Haven't you ever visited the statue of the great Jiraiya that's next to the memorial?"

"Yeah, so?"

"This haiku is engraved there," Hinata said. "It was written by the Yondaime in honor of Jiraiya."

"It's a message," Naruto said quietly. "It means that so long as a ninja is faithful to his duty he has no reason to fear death."

With that team seven was passed and headed back to room 301.

XXX

"Somehow I knew we were going to end up here," Kakashi said. They were standing in front on the life size bronze of the great Jiraiya.

"I like to come here when I need to think," Minato said. "What do you suppose he would say if he could see this?"

"Kid! Why didn't you make it bigger?"

Minato had a surprised laugh. "Yes, sensei would say something like that!"

"So, what is it you need to think about?" Kakashi didn't need to look underneath the underneath for this. "You obviously have something serious on your mind."

Minato answered the question with one of his own. "Does a Hokage ever have the right to be selfish and not do what's best for the village for personal reasons?"

Kakashi looked at him in genuine surprise. "I have trouble imagining you being that selfish. 'The Hokage must be the sword and shield of the village. He must always protect his village no matter the cost.' Didn't you say that?"

"Yes I did," Minato replied. "At the time though I was only thinking about what _I _might have to give up." To Kakashi's surprise Minato pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to him. "This is an S-rank secret; you can speak of it to no one but me."

"Understood," he took the paper and started to read it. His single visible eye went wide. "A marriage contract? With the Kazekage's daughter?!"

Minato nodded. "He wants a blood tie between Namikaze and Sabaku. With this the alliance between Suna and Konoha would be just about unbreakable."

"What will Naruto say?"

Minato frowned. "I doubt he'll be happy about it, but he's a ninja and understands duty. He'll accept it."

Kakashi recognized that tone. "You've already decided to agree to this, haven't you?"

Sighing heavily the Yondaime Hokage nodded. "Yes I have."


	18. Second test

**Author Notes: **For any of you who may be interested in reading some of my original works I have just recently started a website where they will be available. I invite you to go to my profile page for a link to it.

XXX

Returning to room 301 they found it far less crowded than earlier.

Naruto was surprised to see both the other rookie squads already there. Sasuke's team deliberately kept its distance while team 10 was only too eager to come over and say hello.

"Hey cutey!" Ino called with a wave.

Before she could reach Naruto Hinata neatly slid in blocking her path. "Ino," she said politely.

"Hello Hinata," the other girl responded just as politely. "I hope you've been taking good care of _my _Naruto-kun?"

"I didn't realize he belonged to you."

"I always thought it was rather obvious."

"And then you wake up," Hinata said sweetly.

"They're off and running," Shikamaru commented under his breath. "How troublesome." He was careful to remain quiet. His arm was still sore.

Naruto was also uncomfortable. He just didn't understand why Hinata and Ino always acted this way. Couldn't they all just be friends?

"Pardon me, but aren't you Namikaze Naruto?"

Naruto turned about and was very surprised to see a blonde kunoichi towering over him. She was very pretty with an unusual hairstyle and an outfit that showed off long athletic legs. Her hitai-ite announced that she was from Suna.

"Ah, that's right. I am." He'd never seen her before and tried to be as polite as he could.

"I thought so!" She said happily. "You look a lot like your father even with those cute scars on your cheeks. Obviously good looks run in your family." She surprised him by giving him a polite bow. "I am Sabaku no Temari of Suna."

"You're the daughter of the Kazekage?" Being the Hokage's son he had been required to learn about the other ruling Kages and their families. He quickly returned her bow. He didn't want to accidentally offend the daughter of one of their most important allies. "I'm honored to meet you as well Temari-san."

"Oh no need to be so formal!" She said with a big smile. "Please call me Temari, and may I also call you Naruto?"

"Uh, sure I guess."

"I realize this isn't the best circumstance for meeting someone, but I wanted to take the opportunity to say hello. I hope to be seeing a great deal more of you once the second phase of the exams is complete." She reached out ands placed an affectionate hand on his cheek. "Please think kindly of me."

She then departed to return to her teammates.

When Naruto turned back around Ino and Hinata were staring at him with identical looks of shock and mouths hanging wide open.

Kiba snorted a rude laugh. "Hey Naruto, never knew you went for older women."

"Huh?" He looked and sounded completely dumbfounded.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called out in a tone he'd never heard from her before. "Who was that?"

"Uh, her name is Temari and she's he Kazekage's daughter."

"And just how do you know her?" She demanded.

"And just why is she touching you like that?" Ino asked with her arms angrily crossed over her chest.

The two girls who'd been arguing just a moment before were suddenly standing shoulder to shoulder glaring at him.

Off to the side Shikamaru mumbled that things were troublesome, offering about as much help as he usually did.

Naruto looked between the two girls. How the heck had he wound up in this situation when he hadn't done anything? "I've never met her before, I swear."

"Then why was she being so friendly?" Ino demanded.

"I don't know! Maybe she just wanted to be nice because of who my father is. And why are you two ganging up on me?"

XXX

Kankuro was amused at the sight of the little guy being interrogated by two irate looking girls.

"You just had to cause him trouble didn't you?"

"I wasn't causing him any trouble," Temari said primly. "Since we're going to be together from now on it was only proper I introduce myself."

"You're getting a little ahead of yourself don't you think?" Kankuro asked. "According to Baki all the Hokage said was that he'd be willing to discuss it further when our father comes here."

"Well naturally he's going to say that," Temari replied confidently. "There's no way he'd just agree to something like this without taking time to think it over. In the ends though I'm sure his answer will be yes."

"Pretty sure of yourself," he looked at her questioningly. "It sounds like you want this to happen." He was surprised when she nodded.

"Why wouldn't I? I mean I love Suna, but I think I could be happy here. I've always know father was likely to arrange a marriage for me, and it's not like I was in love with someone else. Everyone I asked tells me he's a bit lighthearted but really very kind, I'm sure I'll be happy."

He glanced back to where Naruto was still trying to fend off the two girls. "You think he knows yet?"

"No, it's obvious he has no idea what's been proposed." she shrugged. "No reason for it until the decision is made final I guess."

"What if he's against it?"

"He'll learn to accept it in time I'm sure," she laughed. "I'll win him over, I'm very charming after all."

If Kankuro had been asked to describe his sister 'charming' would not be among the first ten adjectives. Likely not in the first twenty. He had the good sense not to mention it though.

XXX

Gaara was five feet away from them but ignored their conversation. He couldn't have cared less whether of not Temari was happy or even whether or not the marriage went through.

All his focus was on Naruto.

Everyone knew that he was the jinchuuriki of the nine tails. The story of Jiriaya's sacrifice was already fast becoming legend. Coming to Konoha he'd hoped to face Naruto and test himself; one container against another. He'd also been _slightly _interested to see if his situation was even more wretched than his own. He'd assumed he would be a pariah among his people, hated and shunned by everyone. Living in despair and consumed by bitterness towards the whole miserable world.

Instead he'd seen him _smiling. _The two idiot girls berating him clearly had not even a hint of fear of him. His own father wouldn't **dare **talk to him the way those two were addressing the Kyuubi's container. He even allowed them to shout at him. From a distance there was nothing at all to suggest he was a jinchuuriki.

His normalcy was utterly bizarre in Gaara's eyes.

As he watched there was an odd pressure inside his chest. He wasn't sure but he thought it might be jealousy.

XXX

Naruto was rescued when the room was filled with colored smoke.

When the smoke began to clear they saw confetti rain down from the ceiling and a bunch of sparklers around a female figure dressed in a trench coat and fishnet. On the black board behind her was written;

**The Great Mitarashi Anko.**

"All right maggots!" She shouted. "All of you who are in this room now passed the first phase of the Exams. Congratulations! Now get your butts up and follow me. My name is Mitarashi Anko and I'm proctor for the second phase. The hard part starts right now!"

"You mean we're going directly to the next phase?" Grass nin asked.

"That's right," she said with an obscene grin. "We're heading out right now. We're to a lovely spot designated Training Ground 44, though we Leaf nins like to call it the Forest of Death."

XXX

Naruto had lived in Konoha all his life and heard all sorts of stories from his father, Kakashi, and others about the village. Somehow or other he'd never heard about this place though. There was a twelve foot high chain link fence topped by barbed wire. Beyond the fence were gigantic twisted and deformed trees with thick underbrush. For a second he thought he spotted something big and furry looking out from cover. When he looked again it was gone… or better hidden.

Looking around he counted off 18 teams with a total of 54 ninja. Of those half were from Leaf, including his own squad, Sasuke's, Ino's, and Neji's. He spotted the Suna team with Temari on it. When she noticed she waved to him. Even though it brought a dark look from Hinata he waved back.

Anko was standing in front of them with a small wooden box. A couple of her assistants were handing out forms. Naruto took a look at one of them. They were consent forms, stating he and his family waived all right to compensation should he be killed or injured in the exams.

"As soon as all of you sign and hand back in these forms we'll begin." She reached into the box and produced a round copper badge on the edge of a chain. "There are eighteen badges here, each of you will be given one. The purpose of this part of the test is simple, it's a nasty all out version of capture the flag, or in this case capture the badge."

She smiled and tossed the badge she was holding.

Naruto was surprised to have it sent to his way. He easily caught it out of the air. Inspecting it he saw the number 1 stamped into one side of the metal, on the other was an impression of the Hokage monument.

"At the center of this training ground is a fortress," she began tossing out more badges. "Your goal is to reach that fortress with your entire team while in possession of three badges. You have 72 hours to acquire two more badges and bring them with you to the fortress. You can get them by stealth or by force, if you happen to lose yours and can get three more that's fine, so long as you have them when you make it in."

"72 hours?" Chouji howled. "What are we going to do for food?"

"Your ninja fatty," Anko said without any sympathy. Chouji turned red and both Ino and Shika had to calm him. "Find food. The forest is filled with nature's bounty. It's also filled with venomous plants and insects and every sort of dangerous predator. And while you're in there you'll be surrounded by hostile ninja out to steal what's yours. Have fun."

Everyone looked around, trying to size up the competition. They would have to fight and defeat two other teams, or find a way to steal a badge away form a squad of shinobi. A lot of eyes were looking his way and towards the other rookies. It was obvious they were already being singled out as weaklings and easy targets.

"Now here are the rules!" Anko announced. "First rule, as I've already said you have to get three badges to the fortress within 72 hours. If you can't get them within the time limit you fail. Second rule, only complete teams are allowed to pass this phase. If any member of your team is killed or otherwise wounded too badly to continue you automatically fail. Third rule, you have to keep all badges in plain view at all times and are not allowed to make counterfeits or destroy any of them. One person must wear all the badges your team has acquired around the neck at all times, and they must be worn right out in the open, no hiding them."

Naruto nodded, that would make bluffing pointless, they were being forced to show all their opponents what they had. Without bothering to ask anyone he slipped the badge around his neck.

"Those are all the rules. Beyond what I've told you anything goes from the moment you step inside until you either reach the fortress or time expires. Killing your opponents is not encouraged but is not against the rules. So keep that in mind if you find yourself in a bad situation. You'll have to decide what risks you're willing to take with your teammates lives. There are entrances all around the perimeter of the forest. They are all an equal distance to the center where your goal is. One of my assistants will take you to one and at the proper moment you'll begin. Any questions?"

No one said anything.

"Okay then, I've got just one piece of advice for you." She flashed them all an amused grin. "Just don't die!"

On that cheerful note they began heading to their designated starting points.


	19. Battles in the Forest

**Author's Note: **This update is for Mistress Ayako. Do you still love me?

XXX

At the appointed time the assistant unlocked the gate and Naruto and his team rushed in, the Second Phase was under way.

XXX

"So what do we do now?" Kiba asked as team seven was gathered in a small clearing not far from their starting point.

Naruto stretched a bit and yawned. "We'll just find a couple other reams and take their badges, obviously. How tough can it be? Anyway I'm going to take a quick leak." He headed towards some bushes. "Be back in a sec."

"Hey! Be careful enemy ninja could be anywhere!" Kiba called out.

"If there's one in the bushes I'll just piss on him." Naruto promised.

Once out of sight of the others he unzipped. Just as he was about to relieve himself a presence came up from behind and he felt a kunai at his throat.

"If you cry out you're dead," a muffled voice told him. "Put your hands behind your back. I'm taking your badge."

Naruto turned ever so slightly to look at the Rain ninja who had a respirator in his mouth. "Let me guess, you don't know anything about the Inuzuka clan or about the byakugan do you? If you did you'd know it's pretty much impossible to sneak up on us."

He vanished in a puff of smoke.

"What the?"

From out of the ground beneath his feet the real Naruto emerged delivering a haymaker to his chin that sent the Rain nin flying.

XXX

When the Rain nin awoke he was tied to a tree surrounded by the members of team 7.

"Before you say anything we know you don't have your team's badge, and since Kiba can't pick up any other scents and Hinata can't find anyone you must have been sent out to scout. I want you to tell us where your friends are." Naruto said.

"Go screw yourself."

Naruto simply grinned. "I thought you might say that. Given that the first phase was all about getting information from a prisoner though you should have at least thought twice. Hinata-chan?"

She looked uncomfortable as she approached him. "Do I really have to?"

"It's the fastest way and if we take too long his friends might be somewhere else." Naruto said.

"You expect _her _to make me talk?" The Rain nin replied mockingly.

In return Hinata simply bowed to him. "I apologize for this. **Byakugan.**" Activating her blood line she struck him at six points.

They heard him laugh through his respirator as he barely felt the taps. "Is that what you call roughing someone up?"

"It takes a few seconds," Hinata told him.

He was about to make another snide comment when instead his eyes widened and he cut loose with a series of muffled screams.

Naruto again reminded himself to never get Hinata mad at him.

XXX

Naruto was putting a second badge around his neck as the two defeated Rain ninja were left unconscious at his feet.

"Now we need just one more."

XXX

"So that's a shower of needles huh?" Gaara said laconically. More than hundred steel needles were imbedded in his sand. "I think I'll make it rain blood now."

"No… no way!" The scarred Mist nin said. "How?"

"Gaara's sand provides a perfect defense," Kankuro said. "Any sort of physical attack against him is doomed to fail. It was just your tough luck to run into him as an opponent."

At that moment the Mist ninja would have been well advised to retreat as their most powerful attack had done nothing. Against a different foe they might have. They were ninja not samurai and felt no shame at withdrawing from a fight. The problem was their leader was unwilling to run from a twelve year old who was mocking him.

Rather than run he instead charged in blindly, giving into his rage and refusing to admit defeat. Always a bad decision for a shinobi. In short order he was entombed in sand and lifted off the ground.

"Well I can see how this is going to end," Kankuro said.

"Gaara," Temari called out carefully. "The Kazekage wants us to avoid killing while we're here."

"Shut up," he told her without even bothering to look back.

Temari silently nodded and said nothing else.

Kankuro looked over at her as if to say, _what did you expect?_

"**Sabaku Soso no Jutsu." **The sand holding the struggling ninja exploded and blood rained down.

The lifeless corpse was dropped as it and the sand returned to the ground.

Seeing the horrific death of their leader the two remaining Mist nin turned to run, but it was too late. Their legs and soon all of them were grabbed and then covered by sand.

"No please!" One of them wailed.

"We surrender! You already have the badge!" The other cried.

Gaara paid no mind to their pleas and in short order there were three corpses on the ground.

As the sand returned to his gourd he walked over to the body of the first ninja and took the badge from around his neck and slid it around his. He had two now.

"Let's go find another team," he said. "I want more."

As Temari and Kankuro fell in behind him they both knew that it wasn't another badge he was after.

Gaara just wanted more blood.

XXX

Three teenage Leaf ninja were gathered under a tree. This was their fourth try at the Chunin exams and the first time they'd made it as far as the second stage. While the conditions were difficult they were cautiously optimistic that they could get two more badges and clear this stage.

Without warning one of their members suddenly shook and swayed on his feet. His closest teammate grabbed him to keep him from falling over. "You all right Kohaku?"

Kohaku looked up at him and grinned. "Mind switch technique successful."

"Huh?"

Kohaku slammed a fist into his unprepared friend's face and knocked him out.

"What are you doing?!"His other teammate got a kunai out and dropped into a fighting stance. Before he could decide what to do though a shadow came out of the woods and merged with his. "Wha… what? I… I can't control my body!"

"Have a nice rest." Kohaku said.

The unfortunate leaf nin went over to a tree and deliberately slammed his head into it.

With the two of them down Shikamaru released his jutsu and came out into the clear. Chouji did as well with an unconscious Ino in his arms bridal style.

"I told you this would work!" Kohaku said proudly as he removed the badge from around his neck and tossed it to Shikamaru.

"Well even a broken clock is right twice a day," Shikamaru replied as he caught the badge out of the air.

"Shut up you lazy jerk!" The teenage boy yelled at him sounding rather girlish. "You're just jealous at my superior leadership skills."

Shika rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that has to be it."

Not wanting to waste time arguing Kohaku went over to the nearest tree and sat down with his back against it. "Just hurry and tie me up so we can get out of here."

"If I could gag you too this would be a dream come true," Shikamaru muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing," Shikamaru got busy tying him up.

XXX

In a small thicket of trees not too far away team 10 came to a halt to regroup and plan. Ino had two badges around her neck.

"So am I a genius or what?" Ino asked proudly.

"Definitely or what," Shikamaru replied.

She glared at him but decided to let that slide for once, she was excited that they were in such good shape. "Now all we have to do is ambush one more team and we can make a run for the base at the center of this damn forest."

It was Chouji who first noticed something wrong. "Hey! We're sinking into the ground!"

Ino and Shika looked down to see they were indeed more than ankle deep and sinking fast.

"Ino you idiot! You led us into a patch of quicksand!" Shika yelled at her.

"How was I supposed to know?" She wailed. She tried to leap away but was held fast. The more she struggled the quicker she sank. Before long they were all waist deep. "Gah! I can't get loose!"

"We're gonna dieeeee!" Chouji wailed.

Shikamaru alone kept his head. He stopped struggling and looked at the situation. Though he was trapped and sinking fast he calmly closed his eyed and brought his hands together in an 'O' to better think.

His eyes popped open and he had the logical answer. "Guys! We're sinking way too fast for this to be actual quicksand! We must be caught in a genjutsu! We need to dispel it."

"I don't know how to!" Ino cried.

"Neither do I!" Said Chouji.

"Okay don't panic! I'll free myself and then I'll free you." He slammed his palms together. "**Kai!**"

Instantly the world around him blurred. When it came back into focus he was no longer waist deep in quicksand. He was instead standing in the same patch of grass he'd landed in. He could see Ino and Chouji also safely on solid ground shouting and waving their arms around frantically.

"Nice work Shikamaru," Sasuke said from behind. "Honestly I didn't expect an idiot like you to see through it."

Shika jumped about trying to catch Sasuke in a shadow manipulation. Sasuke knew what was coming though and gave him no chance. A kick to his belly doubled him over before he could cast the jutsu. A second kick to his head laid him out.

XXX

A couple chops to the back of the head put Ino and Chouji down and ended their frantic and pointless efforts.

Hisa and Shino entered the thicket to join Sasuke. Hisa closed her eyes deactivating her sharingan and her genjutsu.

"Your prediction proved accurate," Shino said in a monotone.

"How'd you know they'd be able to get a badge?" Hisa asked, somewhat impressed by her cousin. While they'd been listening to the explanation of the exam Shino had taken advantage to send out some of his tracking bugs, placing one on each team. Sasuke had insisted on targeting team 10 from the start, but had made them wait in the hopes they might acquire a badge themselves.

For once Sasuke was smiling from ear to ear. He was extremely happy that his team had done so well. He had complete faith and liking for his cousin, while his time with Shino had given him a strong bond there as well.

"Ino is loud and obnoxious, but she manages to get what she wants most of the time." He put the two new badges around his neck, giving him the three they needed. "Now let's get to the finish as fast as we can. With any luck we'll be the first ones to qualify." He was thinking about how good that would look and how it would reflect on his clan to have two Uchihas in the first squad to qualify for the third phase.

XXX

Neji, Lee, and Tenten snapped to attention as another team arrived.

Neji saw that one of their opponents already had two badges. "Be wary," he warned his teammates. "They've already beaten another squad. That means they're probably pretty strong."

"Right," Tenten agreed.

"Yosh! That only means when we defeat them we shall have a clear path to victory! We must let our fires of you youth shine brightly!"

"Sure," Neji said. He liked Lee and they got along well. His friend had developed a friendly one sided rivalry with him that mirrored their sensei's with Hatake Kakashi. Like his sensei though he tended to be a bit overenthusiastic and silly at times. "Just be sure not to let your guard down."

"Roger!"

Across the way the boy who appeared to be the team leader pulled a cork from a gourd on his back. Sand began to spill out and gather at his feet. His eyes locked onto Neji's.

"Make me feel alive."


	20. Team Gai vs Team Baki

"**Byakugan." **Neji activated his bloodline limit and looked over his opponents. He was not surprised to see that the sand that was flowing about had chakra running through it. The girl had no exceptional traits that he could pick out. She had some type of weapon on her back but he could see nothing beyond that.

"The one in the black pajamas," Neji stated. "He has some kind of construct on his back; he's likely a puppet user. Suna is pretty famous for those."

"Right," Tenten said pulling out four kunai in each hand. "How do you want to handle them?"

"Attack pattern Delta," he decided. "And Lee, no fooling around. This is serious business and they're likely to be dangerous. Take the targets out hard and fast, lose the weights."

"Yosh! But that is most unyouthful!"

Tenten sighed. "Just do it Lee. Please? This isn't training but real combat I'm sure sensei would be okay with it"

"Very well Tenten, but when the exams are over I will run one hundred laps around the village backwards!" Bending over he undid his ankle weights and let them drop.

"Now… go!" Neji ordered and he and Tenten dashed forward while Lee seemed to vanish.

XXX

Temari was just standing several feet behind Gaara with her hands resting on her hips watching passively as she had done during the last encounter. Gaara didn't want them to interfere and she knew better than to defy him. She fully expected to just stand there and watch as he annihilated a second squad.

So it came as a complete shock when there was a momentary green blur in front of her eyes followed by a kick to her stomach so strong it made her spit out her breath as she was doubled over. Before she could even think of what to do a crunching punch to her jaw sent her rocketing into a nearby tree. She blacked out and was done.

XXX

Kankuro had also been standing well behind Gaara. He had his arms crossed with a smug expression on his face. He knew Gaara couldn't lose and that he wouldn't need to participate. His eyes widened in horror when a hail of kunai and shuriken came flying towards him. He was right out in the open with no cover and 'Crow' was on his back still under wraps. He expected Gaara's sand to rise up in front of him to shield him.

He should have known better.

Thunk, thunk, think, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk!

"Yaaaaarghh!!" Kankuro howled as his arms and legs were riddled with sharp steel. He toppled over writhed in agony. None of the blades had hit an artery and so none of the wounds would be lethal, but they were more than enough to ensure he was in no condition to fight.

XXX

Gaara heard Kankuro's cries of pain with complete disinterest. If the fool was too weak to protect himself that was his problem. What interested him was the pale eyed shinobi rushing in at him. When he sent his sand out to grab him the boy struck it with his palm. He did something to make the sand momentarily crumble and become lifeless. Clearing a path for him to continue his charge.

But the effect was temporary.

Gaara sent more sand at him. The boy dodged and struck the sand that came too near. He kept trying to approach Gaara but more and more sand was coming at him blocking his path. What the boy didn't realize was that so long as there was soil underneath his feet Gaara could make additional sand, he wasn't limited to what was in his gourd. On his lips a psychotic smile began to bloom as his sand began to surround his victim. "Good," he murmured to himself. "Don't make it easy. Make the fun last a little bit."

XXX

_This is not good! _As he'd expected his jyuken strikes had deactivated his opponent's sand. Anything that was affected by chakra was vulnerable to the Hyuuga technique. He'd been confident in his ability to deal with his opponent's 'weapon.' It was turning out though that he had underestimated the sheer volume of sand his enemy could call up. Still a good distance from his opponent Neji was surrounded by four waves of sand that were closing in on him on every side. No matter how many strikes he landed more sand kept rising out of the ground. There was no path of escape and he would be overwhelmed momentarily.

XXX

Kunai and shuriken aimed at his back struck a column of sand without his need to even think of it.

"Hey you freak!" Tenten shouted trying to draw his attention away from Neji. "Over here!" She tossed more weapons aiming for his neck. These too were intercepted as the boy kept his back to her.

"Wait your turn," Gaara told her.

"Yosh! You will release my eternal rival!"

Gaara heard those words and then, for the first time in his entire life, someone hit him. A punch smashed into his face and sent him flying. Before he could land a cushion of sand rose up to catch him and soften the impact.

Being hit completely broke Gaara's concentration and the sand that had been closing in on Neji suddenly fell away. His escape route now open Neji leapt and got clear.

Lee did not halt his attack for even an instant.

Even as Gaara got back up on his feet blows rained down on him. Punches and kicks struck again and again as if out of thin air. His sand kept trying to block them but was simply reacting too slowly to do him any good. Standing there being hit at will Gaara began to feel something he hadn't known since he was a child.

He was starting to fear.

An unexpected kick to his jaw launched him into the air. A figure in green spandex appeared in the air behind him a like shadow. Gaara turned his face and looked at the strange boy fearfully.

"What are you?"

"Yosh! I am the fearsome Green Beast of Konoha! Rock Lee!" Bandages extended out from his arm and wrapped around Gaara securing him. "**Sakase Hasu!" **Spinning like a top Lee sent them both flying back towards he ground below. At the last possible instant he leapt clear.

Gaara crashed alone into the ground with a thunderous roar blasting a massive crater into the earth.

"That got him!" Tenten said happily as she hurried over to where Lee was. The reverse lotus was his ace in the hole, his ultimate move. It took everything out of him though and Lee was standing there a bit woozy, swaying back and forth. Neji grabbed one of his arms and slung it over his shoulders while using his other arm to support his back.

"You saved me Lee, I was in real trouble there," Neji told him without shame. His father had taught him that no matter how strong a man was he would always need others and that there was nothing wrong in admitting that. "Thank you."

Though exhausted Lee gave his friend a thumbs up and a brilliant smile. "That is what a teammate and eternal rival is for Neji."

Before anything more could be said they heard a groan coming from the bottom of the crater.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Tenten said.

The three of them edged over to the lip of the crater.

There at the bottom was the red head boy lying on a pile of sand. He was sitting up and looking disoriented.

"Unbelievable," Neji whispered. With his byakugan he could see the sand still had chakra running through it.

"I guess we'll just have to dish out a little more punishment," Tenten began to pull out some more weapons.

"No," Neji said firmly. "We're retreating."

Tenten looked at him in surprise.

"Yosh! We cannot run away like cowards! I can still use _that_."

"Didn't sensei tell you that technique was forbidden?" Neji said sharply. "And it's not running away, it's called a tactical withdrawal. We're ninja Lee, there's nothing wrong in breaking off a fight. Has Gai-sensei ever once said a ninja had to fight to the end no matter what?"

Lee was frowning. "No, Gai-sensei has never said such a thing. All the same it seems most unyouthful not to stay and fight."

"I agree with Lee," Tenten added. "Two of them are down and this guy's on his last legs. Why should we run?"

"Because he is _not _on his last legs Tenten," Neji told her. "No matter if he's a bit out of it at the moment all that sand down there is still under his control." To demonstrate his point he threw a kunai. Instantly some sand jumped out to block it. "Despite everything Lee gave him he doesn't seem to have been weakened at all. Now Lee's exhausted and neither of us are likely to get past his defenses. There are bound to be weaker teams in this forest, let's retreat now while we have the chance."

Seeing the sand rise up to stop the kunai Tenten and Lee reluctantly nodded.

By the time Gaara had his wits about him team Gai was long gone.

XXX

When Temari came to Kankuro was sitting beside her with bandages all over his arms and legs. She looked about expecting to see an impatient Gaara standing there along with the bodies of three broken leaf shinobi. What she instead saw was a crater in the middle of what had been an empty clearing and Gaara standing a ways off staring into the forest. Even at this distance she could tell he was furious.

"What happened?" She asked in a low voice.

"Gaara lost," Kankuro said in a hushed tone. "He is _really _angry about it. He keeps saying he's going to murder this kid named Rock Lee."

"Gaara lost?" She said startled.

He quickly put a finger to his lips. "Quiet," he hissed. "He's even more unstable than usual, and for Gaara that's saying something."

"Temari," Gaara called out.

"Ye… yes Gaara?"

"If you're awake then get on your feet, you too Kankuro. We're leaving; I want blood and lots of it!"

"Yes Gaara," Kankuro got up immediately though he winced in pain.

Seeing it Temari took a hold of her brother's arm and put it across her shoulders. Despite being knocked out and having a massive bruise on the side of her face she was in better shape than he was. As they got moving she found herself pitying the other teams in the forest.


	21. The cost of the Exams

"**Rasengan**." Naruto slammed a first phase, non-lethal, rasengan into the Grass kunoichi's stomach. Naruto felt no hesitation about striking a woman. Silly notions about men not attacking women had been purged from him back in the academy.

His attack landed and sent her body spinning into a tree knocking her out. Her two teammates already lay defeated.

Naruto went over to her and slipped off her badge and put it around his own neck. "Now we've got three, let's head for the base in the center of the forest." Kiba and Hinata nodded their agreement, both eager to completer this phase of the exams.

XXX

They made it to the central base without incident. There a Chunin directed them to where the proctor was waiting. Anko accepted the three badges and performed a simple jutsu to confirm their authenticity. Nodding satisfied she made a notation on a clipboard.

"All right brats, you pass the second phase. Now you can just relax for the next two days until this part of the test ends. You'll be assigned rooms and you're free to do whatever you like until then. The base has all the usual facilities including a dojo and weight room is you want to train. There are only two rules you need to follow. Now that you've passed you're not allowed to leave again until you're dismissed and you're not allowed to fight any of the other teams when they arrive. Beyond that you're free to do as you please."

"Are we the first team to arrive?" Hinata asked curiously.

Anko shook her head. "Second, team Sarutobi's already here."

"Sasuke's team was the first to make it in?" Naruto sounded impressed.

"Great," Kiba muttered. "You just know he's going to start with Uchiha this and Uchiha that crap." Akamaru growled his agreement.

"They're our fellow Leaf ninja Kiba," Hinata said mildly chiding. "We should be glad they did so well."

Naruto nodded. "Hinata-chan's right, it's good to have another Leaf squad in. Maybe we can all hang out together for the next two days."

"I wouldn't count on it." Kiba grunted.

XXX

Kiba's prediction proved correct as Sasuke and his squad were polite but kept a frosty distance, choosing to eat and practice separately from team 7.

Early on the second day team Gai made it in.

Hinata was relieved to see her cousin and his squad had made it through safe and sound. Naruto was also happy to see his friend. The two squads were familiar with each other due to the Hyuuga connection and sat down to share a meal and compare notes.

"The squad from Suna," Neji told them. "They're dangerous."

"Well, the red headed kid is," Tenten said. "His teammates didn't seem like much."

"Oh? You fought the team from Sand?" Naruto asked sounding somewhat interested.

He failed to notice an unhappy glance from Hinata.

Neji nodded and gave a quick run down of he battle including his decision to withdraw at eh end of it.

"You ran away?!" Kiba mocked laughing. "And you call yourself a ninja?"

Neji frowned at him. "It's _because _we're ninja that I retreated. Ninja carry out the mission to the best of their ability, doing whatever that requires. The 'mission' was to acquire two badges from enemy squads. In my opinion the best way to accomplish that was to withdraw and seek out weaker teams. We are not samurai following bushido, shinobi don't worry about appearances or losing face when it comes to the mission."

"We got our two badges do Neji was right," Tenten said coming to his defense.

"Yosh! But it was still most unyouthful to retreat as we did."

"I'm sure big brother Neji made the right decision," Hinata said with a nod. "There is nothing wrong in showing discretion."

"Still sounds like he was scared to me," Kiba put in.

Neji sent him a friendly look. "Would you care for a friendly spar Kiba-san?"

Naruto and Hinata both looked alarmed and tried to warn their teammate.

"Sure! I promise I'll go easy on you!" Kiba answered immediately giving his teammates no chance to interfere.

Naruto and Hinata shared a look.

"You've got your medical balm right?" Naruto asked.

Sighing she nodded. "Yes, and I'll reopen all his chakra points for him."

Kiba looked at them frowning. "What are you talking about?"

"You'll find out," Naruto told him.

XXX

**One Hour Later**

"Secret technique: Thousand Years of Death!" Neji shouted.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagghh!!" Kiba howled.

"Now that's just mean," Naruto said.

Hinata, Lee, and Tenten all nodded and winced.

XXX

Late in the afternoon on the second day Team Ten arrived.

"Alright," Anko said. "Let's see your badges."

Ino and Chouji both looked embarrassed.

Shikamaru answered her with a disinterested expression. "We haven't got any."

Both of Anko's eyebrows jumped up in response. "What do you mean you haven't got any? You understand that coming here without any badges means you're disqualified from these exams right?"

All three of them nodded.

"Ah, we all decided as a group to come here and forfeit," Ino said sounding uncomfortable.

"How come? Don't you want to be promoted?"

"Sure," Ino said. "But there's something else we want more."

"Oh really?" Anko asked mocking. "What's that?"

"To live," Shikamaru said sounding dead serious.

His two teammates nodded in total agreement. He decided it would be too troublesome explaining to the proctor they had witnessed a red headed kid massacre a squad of Grass nin with sand. Seeing that and cowering in terror at the thought of having to face him they'd all decided forfeiting was a MUCH better option.

XXX

On the third day, just an hour before the deadline the squad from Suna arrived.

"Here," Gaara said in a bored voice as he handed over six badges. A couple of them had dried blood.

Anko accepted them with an unhappy face. "You only needed three! Why'd you collect more than that?"

"Because I felt like it," Gaara answered and walked away.

Temari and Kankuro followed after him. The only good thing about the whole experience in the forest was that it had at least calmed him down.

XXX

The Hokage was in a conference room with Tsunade, Kakashi, and Sarutobi as Anko made her official report regarding the Second Phase.

"We had four teams successfully complete the second test, that's a total of twelve finalists. Any more and we would have required a preliminary round."

The Yondaime nodded, his expression was solemn and serious as were the others at the table. Normally he would have been overjoyed at his son's team doing so well on their very first attempt. However there was another much more serious matter on his mind.

"How many casualties?"

"We have a number of minor injuries and one Leaf nin with a broken arm being treated right now in the base infirmary. We also have **fifteen **dead." She tossed down five badges on the table with a flourish. "Checking the badge numbers confirms that all fifteen were eliminated by the squad from Suna. The dead include one squad each from Rain, Mist, and Grass as well as two from Leaf."

There were always deaths in theses exams and all the participants went in understanding the danger was very real. However to have over a quarter of all the candidates killed was unprecedented. That it had been done by one team made it all the more unbelievable.

"This was a bloody massacre," Tsunade said in disgust. She hated useless deaths, and these had been completely pointless and unnecessary. "You should immediately disqualify that team! That's if you don't have them arrested and charged with murder!"

Both Minato and Sarutobi shook their heads.

"Arresting them would violate the agreements made between the villages." Sarutobi said. "The candidates cannot be arrested for any crime committed during the course of the exams."

"Well what about expelling them then?" Tsunade demanded.

"I can't do that," Minato replied glumly. "No matter how excessive it was the fact is killing other ninja during the exam isn't against the rules. I have no grounds for denying them advancement to the third round."

"So they actually get _rewarded _for this?!"

"My hands are tied Tsunade," Minato told her. "Being Hokage doesn't mean I can just ignore the rules and the treaties. Like it or not they passed and did so within the limits we set for this phase of the exams. We will just have to keep a close eye on them from this point on."

Tsunade looked murderous.

"These exams were meant to foster mutual respect and friendship between the ninja villages," Sarutobi pointed out. He had been the driving force in establishing the exams following the Third Great Ninja War. He believed in them. "This is the price we pay sometimes for bringing all these different groups together. Hopefully this will be an aberration."

"I'm sure that's a huge comfort to those fifteen dead shinobi old man."

"Come on," Minato said. "The decision's been made. Let's just do our best to keep the body count down from here on out."

XXX

Temari and her team were headed down a long corridor to an underground arena where the finalists were all being gathered.

She hoped for the chance to talk to Naruto. She'd heard that his team had made it. She was hoping to chat and get to know him a bit better. That was if they didn't go directly into the third phase.

When she and her brothers exited the corridor to arrive at the large arena floor she was not expecting trouble. So when Gaara suddenly stopped and went rigid she was surprised.

Kankuro saw the problem immediately. "Aw damn it to hell!"

"What? What is it?" Temari asked having no idea what the issue was. Gaara had been fine until just a moment ago.

Her older brother pointed to a homely kid in green spandex. "That's Rock Lee."

"Oh hell!" She instantly understood. Gaara had gone on and on about what he was going to do to Lee.

The cork in his gourd popped out and sand began flowing onto the ground.

"Gaara you can't!" Temari cried in horror. "The Hokage's here! So are all the senseis! You have to stop!"

Lee and the others all saw the sand and felt Gaara's killer intent.

"I'm going to kill you!" Gaara said and sent his sand across the floor.

There was a flash of yellow light.

In the next instant a stunned Gaara found himself sent spinning to crash in the arena's far wall. His gourd shattered and he spat up blood as his sand had no chance to cushion his blow. He crumpled to the floor gasping with the pain of two broken ribs. He looked up to see the Lord Hokage standing where he'd been a moment before, a rasengan still in the palm of his hand.

"The second phase is over and the third has not begun yet," Namikaze Minato told him with a voice as hard and unyielding as iron. "Calm down right now or you're going to die here." The legendary Yellow Flash sounded as though he had no doubts at all about that.

Gaara stared at him, and for the second time since coming to Konoha felt fear begin to rise up inside him. He struggled to get back to his feet, wincing in pain. "Very well," he said. The sand began to retreat and surround him. "I suppose I can wait to kill him."

"How kind of you," Minato said. "Now please get into line so we can explain about the Third and final phase of these exams."


	22. The reason for the exams

Everyone there witnessed Gaara's sudden and complete defeat at the hands of Konoha's Fourth Hokage.

"Yosh!" Lee cried excitedly. "He dealt with him easily!"

Neji grinned and nodded. "Well of course, he is after all the Yondaime."

Sasuke looked on and was reminded that the Hokage had single handedly beaten his father and all the ninja of the Uchiha clan. He hated Namikaze Minato for that, but would not deny he was a great and powerful ninja.

"My dad is so awesome," Naruto said proudly.

"Too bad you're nowhere near as cool as he is," Kiba teased.

"Just give me a couple more years!"

All of the Leaf ninja (save for Sasuke) looked on with pride and satisfaction at their Hokage.

Kankuro and Temari stood there is shock with their mouths hanging open. Temari had never seen anyone get past Gaara's defenses to so much as touch him. Kankuro had seen him defeated in the Forest but had never imagined anyone could do it with such ease! It made him wonder at the difference in strength between his father and the Hokage.

"He really is the Yellow Flash isn't he?" Kankuro said in a whisper.

Temari gave a simple nod. "Yeah, he's amazing."

XXX

Gaara's gourd reformed out of the sand jumping about at his feet. The remainder then poured inside and he put in the cork. Gasping with pain he walked over to where the other ninja had formed ranks of three. Physical pain and the sight of his own blood were new and disturbing experiences for him. As he and Kankuro and Temari formed a line at the end of the formation his eyes remained locked on Minato; not in hatred but in wonder. He'd heard all about the Yellow Flash of Konoha. He had been the decisive factor in the Third Great Ninja War and was universally considered the most powerful living ninja.

He'd discounted all of that. He'd had no doubt that if he wanted to he could kill him as easily as any other person that got in his way. Having just tasted his power he felt a strange sense of dread. Despite his defeat he was sure he would kill Rock Lee when he faced him again.

He was not at all sure he could beat the Hokage short of unleashing his full form. The thought made him uneasy.

"I think I should make something very clear to all of you," Minato said addressing all of the candidates, but giving Gaara special attention. "Until the third phase of these exams begin you are forbidden to attack each other. The laws of the village apply to you and are in full effect up until that moment. Should you attack anyone within the boundaries of Konoha you will be arrested and charged with assault. You will also be immediately disqualified from these exams. Should you kill anyone you will be tried for murder and if found guilty you will be put to death. is that clear?"

He watched heads bob up and down. Gaara gave one single nod.

"All right, I'll now hand over the proceedings to the proctor for the third phase." He leapt up and returned to his original seat over looking the candidates in the arena below.

Before them came a woman in a long green jacket with her blonde hair in two tails.

"My name is Senju Tsunade and I'll be in charge of the Third Phase," she announced.

There was a mild stir in the ranks. Tsunade was famous in both Konoha and Suna as one of the famed Sannin. Since Jiraiya's death the name of the Sannin had only grown more exalted.

"To begin with I'd like to tell you what these exams are all about." She too focused on Gaara.

"The Chunin Selection Exams were created **not **for the primary purpose of promoting Genin to the rank of Chunin. As I'm sure all of you realize the vast majority are Chunin are simply promoted by their village's leader."

"Then what the heck are we doing here then?" Kiba complained.

"You're here to create bonds of friendship and respect between the villages. You're here essentially to foster peace."

"Peace?" Gaara called mockingly. "Is that what all this is about? Here I thought it was about killing."

She sent him a murderous look. "That's where you're wrong, these exams were **never **aboutkilling. The deaths are the price that have to be paid for allowing the best ninja in the world to come together and compete. Deaths among the candidates are a regrettable but necessary circumstance. However those deaths serve a greater purpose."

She looked them all over. it was truly amazing that _all _of them were children, and nine of them were from the village. The next generation was shaping up to be something special.

"All of you were sent here because you represent the best of your villages. To be selected to come here and compete is the highest possible honor. You are here to fight to the best of your ability and to put your lives at risk to allow the whole world to see the respective strengths of the different villages. This allows mutual respect to be created as each village is given a chance to ace and know the strength of the others. From this comes the possibility for understanding and friendship."

"You're wrong," Gaara said. "There's no friendship or trust between people. There's nothing but betrayal and deceit."

"Shut up!" Naruto growled. "Maybe your village is like that but in Konoha we aren't like that."

Gaara sent him a cold look. "You're a fool."

"What did you say?" Naruto turned to take a step towards the Suna nin and had both Hinata and Kiba grab a hold of him.

"That's enough!" Tsunade shouted. "This isn't a debate! The Hokage already told you what would happen if any of you fight before the third phase starts."

That calmed Naruto right down, Gaara had been stoic and simply standing there the whole time.

"Now then," Tsunade continued. "The finals will be help before an audience that will include feudal lords and rich men from all over the continent. These men are all potential clients and how much business a village receives will be directly effected by what they see. In order to give you the best possible chance to rest and recover and prepare some new moves the finals will be held thirty days from now. Take advantage of the time and prepare yourselves as well as possible. The finals will be a series of straightforward one to one combats. from this point on you will be competing as individuals and may need to face off against a teammate."

She noted the way the Genin eyed each other at that prospect. Some looked a tad nervous, most appeared eager.

"You will of course want to be the final winner, but as you compete you'll be judged by a number of experts including the Hokage and Kazekage. These scores will determine who will be promoted. That means that even if you are eliminated in the opening match if you are impressive enough you may still be promoted; while even winning the last fight does not automatically mean you'll be made Chunin. Now before we proceed are there any questions?"

No one raised a hand.

"All right," she nodded towards Anko who had a box in her hands. "Each of you take a slip of paper from this box."

Anko went among them and they each took one paper. On each was number.

"Okay," Tsunade held a clipboard. "Starting with number one, read off your numbers."

"One," Sasuke said.

"Two," Kankuro said.

"Three," Naruto said.

"Four," Gaara said.

"Five," Hinata said.

"Six," Temari said.

"Seven," Neji said.

"Eight," Shino said.

"Nine," Hisa said.

"Ten," Rock Lee said.

"Eleven," Tenten said.

"Twelve," Kiba said.

Tsunade nodded and wrote names down. "All right these will be the opening round matches." She displayed what she had written.

Sasuke vs Kankuro

Naruto vs Gaara

Hinata vs Temari

Neji vs Shino

Hisa vs Rock Lee

Tenten vs Kiba

"Learn everything you can about your opponent, strengths and weaknesses, and plan your strategy accordingly. With that you are all dismissed for the next thirty days when we will reassemble at the village stadium.

XXX

With that the senseis went to talk to their teams.

The Hokage was going over to congratulate his son and his team when Temari came up to him and bowed low.

"Please forgive Gaara's behavior earlier Hokage-sama."

"Which behavior are you referring to?" Minato asked politely. "His threatening to murder on leaf ninja in front of me or his massacring five squads during the exams?"

Temari flinched at the polite and cool tone. "I am very sorry Lord Hokage, my brother has… issues."

"That does not excuse how he behaved," Minato said sharply.

"I know," Temari replied weakly.

Minato let out a sigh. "I will not punish him for what he ahs done so far. I also don't hold what he's done against you. Please inform him though that as long as he is in Konoha I will be keeping a VERY close eye on him. Should he break any of my villages laws I will not be lenient with him. Tell him I will be keeping an eye on him."

She nodded. "I will Hokage-sama." She hesitated a bit but decided to press on with what she had originally wanted to ask him. "Hokage-sama, may I be allowed to make both you and your son dinner?"

Minato looked at her in surprise. "You cook?"

Temari laughed. "Of course! I'm not only a kunoichi, I have been trained in all the feminine arts. Please allow me to come to your home tomorrow and make you and your son a delicious meal and allow us to all get to know each other better." She was looking at him hopefully. "Please let me show you a different side of me."

That brought out a small smile. He understood that ninja weren't just soldiers and killers. They were also people who lived ordinary lives most of the time. It wasn't fair to judge her solely on the results of the exams.

"Certainly, why don't you come by tomorrow evening."

"Wonderful!"

"And please bring both your brothers and sensei as well."

Her face fell. "Uh, why? It would be more pleasant if I could serve just the two of you."

"I'd like the chance to get to know both of them and your sensei as well." Minato told her. "Is that all right?"

"Of course," she replied.

"In that case Naruto and I will look forward to getting to know all of you better tomorrow."


	23. Servant of the Namikaze

As Kiba and Naruto were talking excitedly with Kakashi sensei about training for the upcoming finals Hinata noticed the pretty Suna kunoichi talking to the Hokage. Hinata couldn't help but notice how close the girl was standing to Naruto's father. How open and inviting her body language was. When their short talk was over she bowed to him and walked back to her team with a spring in her step.

She also noted the Yondaime watching her go with just the slightest grin on his face. He then came over to where she and her team were.

"Well Hinata congratulations on making it to the final stage of the exams," Minato told her. "I know your father will be very happy for both you and Neji."

"Thank you," she replied politely. Her index fingers began to press together without her realizing. "Ah, Hokage-sama, if I may ask, what did that girl want?"

"Oh Temari? Nothing important. She just asked if she could cook Naruto and me dinner."

"She's going to cook for, you Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked worriedly. She glanced back over to the girl who was talking eagerly with her sensei.

"That's right," Minato told her. "She's going to cook for us and we'll be having dinner with her entire team. Since she's the Kazekage's daughter I thought it would be a good opportunity to get to know her and her brothers. I'd also like to see her and Naruto get along."

"You would?" She asked weakly.

Minato nodded. "Despite her brother's actions Temari seems like a good girl. I hope she and Naruto bond a bit. She might become a very important person to him."

Hinata could feel her heart sink. "Important person? Really?"

Minato gave her a playful wink and then patted her head as an adult might any 12 year old girl's. "Well who knows," he said and left it at that. He went over to Kakashi and her teammates and began to talk to them. Naruto puffed out his chest and eagerly related what had happened to them since entering the Forest of Death. Kiba loudly snorted and called him a liar. This in turn got Naruto shouting at him and shaking a fist.

Normally Hinata would have been between them trying to keep the peace. At the moment though all she seemed capable of doing was staring over at the blonde girl while trying to decipher the meaning of the words, 'important person.'

XXX

When Temari had been packing for the exams she'd felt a little strange including her kimono along with her ninja gear and supplies. Now though she was very glad she had brought it along. It was made of pure silk and a rich mixture of indigo, lavender, and pink. Her hair was not in its usual four pony tails but was loose and hanging halfway down her back. She had on blush and lipstick and just a little eye shadow. She had put on her favorite perfume, had done her nails, and was feeling very feminine.

Walking down the street male eyes looked her way and more than one called out to her trying to get her attention. It was pleasing but she made no effort to respond. In her hands she carried a wicker basket filled with ingredients she had bought at the market. She wanted to be absolutely sure she had everything she needed for the traditional dishes she had in mind.

When she came to the Namikaze estate she was very surprised to find the gates wide open and no apparent guards. Her father would never for an instant leave his home unguarded and there were always at least two squads on watch at all times. Unless the guards here were _very _well hidden the place seemed entirely defenseless. Feeling a little nervous she entered through the gate and walked along the twisting path before her. She half expected a ninja to appear and ask her who she was and why she was entering the Hokage's ancestral home.

She could not see the house yet as there were tall trees on either side of her. As she walked she spotted a pair of brown rabbits munching on some plants. They seemed used to human visitors as they made no effort to run or hide. Walking along it felt like she was in the middle of a forest rather than inside a great ninja village. _These Leaf ninja really do love nature don't they? _She could understand why. Traveling through Fire Country she'd been amazed at the endless greenery, at the countless miles and miles filled with vegetation and life. She loved Suna and the desert that was her home, but like all Suna nin she was brought up with a healthy respect for it. The desert was unforgiving.

In contrast the land here was giving. It was filled with food and lumber; more than the local population could harvest. It was a rich land, far richer than Wind Country. _A place that can make men like Namikaze Minato would have to be special, _she thought. He had defeated her brother Gaara with ease and she had never even imagined such a thing possible. Her own father the Kazekage lived in fear of him. That likely meant Minato was the most powerful ninja she'd ever met; maybe the most powerful period.

Yet unlike her father the Hokage felt no need to force people to acknowledge that superiority. He was kind and open and treated others like they were his equals. In return his ninja and his citizens _loved _him. They waved to him on the street and shouted out greetings which he returned. There was a familiarity and trust between ruler and ruled that did not exist (could not exist) in Suna. Her father was certainly respected, undoubtedly feared, and occasionally admired. But loved? She shook her head. The people and his ninja would never love him.

_Is that the secret? Is that why they are so strong? _Gaara was a jinchuuriki and the strongest ninja in Sand and had never been so much as touched. Since coming here though he had already been defeated twice. Was it because the ninja here loved and trusted in their leader and he in them? Was that where the strength came from? She didn't know but thought it an interesting hypothesis. If things worked out the way she hoped she might get the chance to learn for herself.

She came to a wide turn in the road and at last exited the woods.

She took a deep breath as she saw the Namikaze mansion for the first time. It was a three story building made of white marble. In the afternoon light it almost seemed to shine. In front of the mansion were bushes spread out in broken circles mirroring the spiral pattern used by Konoha as a symbol or friendship. Even from where she was she could see flowers of different colors blooming red, yellow, white. These would be the famous rose gardens of the Namikaze.

A breeze brought the sweet fragrance to her and she breathed it in. _So rich, _she thought. There were no gardens in Suna. Water was too precious to waste. Even for the ruling family it was not permitted. Here though it was no issue. The sight of those flowers seemed such a luxury to her. That so much water and effort could be expended for the sake of something as fragile and temporary as a rose drove home the difference between her village and this one.

She wandered off the path and approached the rose garden. They were in full bloom and the sweet scent was heavy as she neared. She saw benches placed alongside the bushes. She imagined how nice it would be to live here and to be able to come out and just sit and enjoy the scenery. She sighed wistfully. It really did seem too good to be true; like something from a fairy tale. Yet it was real enough.

She now approached the wide double doors at the front of the mansion. She was reaching out one hand to knock when they both opened before her.

There in front of her was a tiny rail thin old woman with grey hair and thin flat mouth dressed in a long elegant maid's uniform. Standing behind her were two rows of servants. All of them in pristine uniforms. All of them looking at her and waiting.

Whatever her age the woman at the door bowed smoothly and elegantly, an action mimicked by the servants behind her. "I greet you Sabaku no Temari and bid you welcome to my master's home. I am Kaede, head maid and servant of the Namikaze clan." There was unmistakable pride in her voice and as she straightened her back her eyes met Temari's with unwavering certainty of who was in charge here. "Both the master and Naruto-sama are not present at the moment but I have been informed to give you whatever assistance you may require and to treat you as a most honored guest."

Temari had been brought up to give her servants no mind. They were almost seen as just an extension of the house, like a stairwell or piece of furniture. You did not waste words like 'please' or 'thank you' on a servant. You told them what to do and it was done. When you did not need them they became almost invisible. The erect knowing look in the old woman's eyes made it clear _she _had no intention of blending into the background.

Though Temari would never think to do it in Suna she bowed low and respectfully to the head maid. "I thank you for welcoming me and I promise I will behave as a proper guest. In my homeland we take the hospitality of others very seriously." Straightening she gave Kaede a bright smile. "Could you please direct this humble kunoichi to the kitchen?"

XXX

Kaede watched silently from the doorway as Temari chopped vegetables and cut up pieces of meat to be cooked. She had offered to help but Temari had insisted on preparing everything on her own. She had to admit that the young girl appeared to know what she was doing in a kitchen.

"I am a bit surprised to see you are so expert at preparing a meal," Kaede told her.

Temari looked up from where she was chopping onions. "Why? In Suna it's the wife who is expected to do the cooking." Her hands did not stop despite taking her eyes from her work.

"It's the same here in Konoha," Kaede agreed. "However being the daughter of the ruling clan I would have thought learning to cook might have been beneath you."

Temari gave a firm shake of her head. "My people are very traditional and so is my father, _every _girl is expected to know how to cook and take care of the household."

"I am sure you will make a fine wife some day," Kaede told her.

"Thank you," Temari said happily.

"Perhaps even for someone here in Konoha?"

Her hand slipped and she nearly cut one of her fingers. Temari gave a startled look which she swiftly masked. The very slight smile on the old woman's lips told her it had not been missed.

"You need to be more careful," Kaede admonished.

_About cutting or about revealing my thoughts? _Temari could not believe that a maid had actually made her slip like that. No this woman was most definitely _not _a regular servant. "I will pay more attention," she promised.

"What is your opinion of Naruto?" Kaede asked her.

"Are all the servants in Konoha this inquisitive?" Temari asked.

"I think you will find things are a bit different here," Kaede told her.

"Yes I am starting to notice that."

"So what do you think of him?" Kaede asked again, still polite but clearly expecting an answer.

"I haven't really talked to him much," she said as she began cutting strips of beef. "He seems likeable. Though he is still just a child."

"He wears the hitai-ite and is an adult of the village," Kaede corrected.

"Well of course, as far as being ninja I acknowledge he is an adult. For other things though he is still only a child."

"For other things," Kaede repeated in a tone as dry as desert sand.

Temari merely smiled at her.

"He is extremely close to the Hyuuga heiress Hinata," Kaede mentioned. "They have known each other all their lives and are teammates now. Her father is a dear friend to my master and though a formal arrangement has never been made many have thought Hinata and Naruto would end up together."

"Is that so?" Temari said neutrally.

Kaede looked at her and Temari looked back.

"Well you seem to have everything in hand I will leave you to it," Kaede told her and left the kitchen.

_Why do I feel like I've just been interviewed by a future mother in law? Sighing she kept cutting she had a lot of work still to do to have dinner ready._


	24. Guess Who is Coming to Dinner

"Why do I have to get dressed up to eat?" Naruto complained. He was wearing a dark green silk kimono.

"You are a Hokage's son and clan heir of the Namikaze," his father told him. He was dressed in the red and white robes of his office. "I'm afraid the occasional formal dinner is the least of what that requires. Just be glad you don't have to do any paperwork."

"Great," Naruto muttered sullenly.

His father grinned at him. "Son you've been to enough of these to know how it goes. Just be polite and try to have good table manners or I'll set Kaede after you." Naruto shuddered. "Anyway if you really do succeed me you'll be expected to host a lot of formal events, and you won't be allowed to skip out early."

"You know dad the way you talk about it you make being Hokage sound about as interesting as being an accountant."

He shrugged. "Well it does have its moments, but a lot of the work is anything but glamorous. It's worth doing though. Now remember I need you to be polite and civil to our guests, and I would especially like it if you could make a real effort to get to know Temari. She's going through a lot of trouble to make the dinner and you should show your appreciation."

"Wait, why is she doing that? I mean since when does a guest do the cooking?" Naruto asked.

"She offered and I thought it a very nice gesture. She wants to demonstrate she is more than just a kunoichi."

Naruto laughed. "Having a beautiful girl cook for me. It almost sounds like a date."

"Almost."

XXX

Unlike Temari, Baki, Kankuro, and Gaara had not bothered to pack any formal clothes and so were dressed in their regular ninja gear as they approached the Namikaze mansion.

"Nice," Kankuro commented looking over the building as well as the gardens. "You can really tell what a rich place this is."

Baki ignored the comment and was instead focused on his other student. Gaara had his gourd slung over his back as always. His face had its usual lack of interest, but the eyes darted back and forth.

_Interesting_, Baki thought. _I have never seen him nervous before. His encounter with the Yellow Flash left an impression_. "Gaara, I trust you will behave as a proper guest?" Except when he was filled with blood lust Gaara tended to be well mannered. Those times he wasn't though…

"I'll behave," he said in a bored voice. "Don't expect me to keep quiet though if he starts spewing that garbage about peace and friendship."

"Gaara please remember our host is the Hokage."

Gaara sent him a hard and uncompromising look. "I'm not afraid to tell the Kazekage what I think of him, why would I worry about the Hokage?"

He suppressed a sigh. This was about all he's expected to get. "Just be as polite as you can."

Gaara offered no reply.

Baki finally pressed the doorbell and was not surprised when it opened immediately. He was surprised however to find not a servant but the Lord Hokage himself opening the door for them.

"Welcome to my home," Minato said with a wide inviting smile. His eyes slid over to Gaara's. "Please come in and make yourselves comfortable. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you."

XXX

Temari insisted on bringing all the dishes to the table herself. Naruto was astounded by the variety and tempting aromas laid out before him. These were all traditional Suna foods which meant they were all exotic delicacies in his eyes. There was a bowl of hummus and pita bread. There was tabouleh with parsley, tomato, garlic and other ingredients mixed in. There were chicken and lamb shawarma; pockets of warm bread absolutely stuffed not just with meat but cheese, tahini, onion, and other vegetables. There were stuffed potatoes and falafels. There were skewers with beef and chicken separated by cuts of vegetables. There were dishes piled high with cuts of meat all cooked with various spices along with fresh pita bread. And to top it all off was a dish with multi layered baklava coated in nuts and honey.

Naruto just stared at all of it with wide eyes and watering mouth. "Wow! You made all this by yourself?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Temari said with just the slightest grin on her satisfied face. She gave him a demure bow. "Please enjoy the meal this humble maiden has prepared for you."

"I think I speak for both myself and my son when I say we appreciate all the effort you obviously put into preparing this meal for us." Minato told her.

Kankuro snorted a laugh. "Yeah my sister's really domesticated, maybe you should ask her for a foot rub or something."

Temari sent her brother a hooded look and his laughter cut right off.

"My wife Kushina was a great ninja and warrior, but she also took pride in being able to cook a good meal." Minato said pleasantly. "I think it speaks very highly of your sister that she is willing to make such an effort."

Temari blushed slightly at his words of praise.

"Hey dad can we eat?" Naruto's mouth was watering.

"Son, don't you want to thank Temari for making all this delicious food for us first?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, right!" He sent her a bashful smile and offered a seated bow. "Thanks Temari! Can I eat now?"

Laughing she nodded. "Please do Naruto-kun. All of you please enjoy this meal."

XXX

Temari was seated across from Naruto and was grinning at him as he was devouring a chicken shawarma in one hand and a skewer of meat in the other.

"I see you have a good appetite."

Naruto looked up from his plate looking slightly embarrassed. "Uh sorry, I guess I got a little carried away."

"No need to apologize," she assured him with a reassuring smile. "I take it as a compliment."

"I've never eaten Wind country food before. It's really, really good."

"I'm very glad you think so. Hopefully I'll get the chance to cook for you again."

"Well that would be great," Naruto said. "But wouldn't it be a little weird since you and I might face each other in the Exams? I mean I understand about diplomacy and all, but we aren't supposed to get too friendly are we?"

"Actually I would like us to become close Naruto," she told him. "While it is true we may face one another in the trials that doesn't mean we need to see each other as enemies. If we meet I will fight you as hard as I can in the arena, but outside of that I would dearly like for us to be close."

"Even though I'm from another village?" Naruto asked. He had a friendly and open nature, but he was still a ninja. Sand was an ally, but he had been taught that ninja of other villages were never to be _completely_ trusted. "Is it because you're the daughter of the Kazekage and I'm the son of the Hokage?"

"Well if I said that had nothing to do with it I'd be lying," she admitted. "We are who we are though. That doesn't mean I don't honestly want to get to know you though or that I wouldn't like it if you were to feel comfortable around me."

"My dad has taught me some about diplomacy and I'd be glad to be friends, especially if it means I get more of this great food!"

"I'm very pleased to hear that," Temari told him. "I look forward to being friends, or even more."

For just a moment Naruto paused while in the process of stuffing his face. While not exactly the most observant of people he was not a total idiot. Her words and something about her tone hinted at things hidden underneath the underneath. "What do you mean?"

"Only that there are all sorts of possibilities," she said smoothly. "Were we to be more than friends I think that would be a wonderful thing."

All at once Naruto began to feel just a little bit nervous.

"Peace grows from understanding and trust," Minato said noticing his son's reaction. "If we build ties between us as individuals it will help strengthen the ties between our two villages."

"Are you spewing that nonsense again?" Gaara suddenly spoke in a low hiss.

Temari looked over at her brother nervously. Things had been going so well! "Gaara please…"

"Friendship, peace, understanding all those things are nothing but lies," Gaara continued ignoring her. "The only thing that exists between people is hatred."

"That's stupid," Naruto told him. "People can be friends."

Gaara turned his pale unblinking eyes to him. "You're an idiot."

"What did you say?" He snapped.

"Calm down son," Minato said crossing his hands in front of his face and turning his attention towards Gaara. "If my son is an idiot then I am as well since I also believe people can become friends. As I said once before I find it sad that one so young can be so jaded. I would think someone your age would be full of the hope for a better future. I personally believe in a world of peace where different people can come together and understand each other."

"Only children or fools could believe in that," Gaara said firmly.

"Then what is it you believe in Gaara?" Minato asked him quietly.

"Myself, only myself. No one else matters, no one else is to be trusted. All other people are my enemies."

Naruto smirked. "You're the one who's the idiot. No one can survive all by themselves! People need each other. It's the trust and love for others and for the village that makes life worth living and gives meaning to what we do. I love Konoha just like my dad does! When I am Hokage one day I'll protect the village the same way he does, not out of selfishness but out of love!"

Gaara stared at him, obviously not comprehending. "You love your village? Why? You're a jinchuuriki, a human sacrifice, you were forced to accept an unfair burden for these cowards. Why would you care about them? Don't you know they are only using you? When you die they'll just bury you and have someone else take your place."

"That's not so!" Naruto snapped and was on his feet. "The people of Konoha would never just use me! To be the Kyuubi's container is my honor! The great Jiraiya gave his life to stop the Kyuubi and he's the greatest hero of my village! I am giving my life to keep it imprisoned and to use its powers to protect Konoha."

"So what?" Gaara asked coldly. "Do you think that makes you a hero? Did you have a say in what happened or was it just forced upon you? If you have no choice that means your nothing but a tool."

Naruto let our a low growl. "I'm no tool."

"Naruto please sit back down," his father said firmly.

Looking at his dad Naruto nodded and sat.

"Gaara," Minato continued. "It is true Naruto had no say in what was done to him, but as my son and heir I felt it to be his duty nonetheless. I assure you that no one in this village sees him as a tool. In my eyes and in the eyes of others he _is _a hero, and his sacrifice is a noble one. I would ask you not to insult him or the memory of Jiraiya by reducing what he did to some mere task. What Jiraiya did in stopping the Kyuubi he did out of love for this village and what my son does now is also done out of love. Do not mock them even if it is something you cannot agree with."

"Gaara," Baki said sounding stern. "You are insulting our host, please apologize and behave like a proper guest."

Gaara's lips turned downwards with a sullen twist. "I apologize," he said blankly.

XXX

After that the dinner continued in a strained silence.

XXX

Once the meal was over Gaara and Kankuro departed as Temari said good bye to Naruto and Baki asked for a word in private with the Hokage.

"I am very sorry for my brother's behavior," Temari bowed low. "Please do not judge him too harshly and know his opinions are not mine. I truly admire how you bare your burden."

"Don't worry about it Temari, I don't blame you for what he said. I think I should warn you though I am going to completely and totally kick his ass when we fight."

Before coming to Konoha she would have thought those words to be ignorant. Now though she was not so sure. Gaara had been defeated twice and Naruto was the nine tails jinchuuriki and son of the Yellow Flash. "Well I can't promise to cheer for you since he is my brother, but I will wish you luck."

Leaning forward she planted a soft and very warm kiss on his cheek.

"Good luck to you Naruto-kun," she said in a breathy whisper. "May I come over again to visit you before the finals?"

"Su… sure." His face was flushed and he was all too aware of just what a pretty girl she was.

"I really do look forward to getting to know you better." She said warmly before departing.

Watching her go he touched his cheek and found himself looking forward to seeing her again.

XXX

"I sincerely apologize for my student's behavior," Baki said bowing. "I regret his rude words."

"Words I can forgive," Minato replied. "What I regret are all the lives he took during the second phase of the exams. I hope he will show more restraint in the third phase, especially since he will be fighting my son."

"I will instruct him that he is not to kill or seriously injure Naruto whatever the circumstances."

"Well that's comforting," Minato said a bit dryly. "I trust the same will go for Rock Lee or any other ninja he faces should he advance."

"Of course," Baki said quickly. "The Kazekage laments the unnecessary loss of life that occurred and wishes to only maintain the close ties our villages share."

"Well obviously given his proposal."

"I hope that Gaara's actions tonight will not have an undue influence on your decision?"

"I won't blame Temari or the Kazekage for Gaara's opinions. Though I think it's a good thing he won't be visiting us again."

"Yes," Baki said. He had the good sense to sound embarrassed. "Speaking of which I have just received a message from the Kazekage earlier today. He intends to arrive here a week prior to the finals in order to have more time for negotiations. He will also be bringing other members of the government with him and several heads of the Great Houses."

"Just in case they are needed to attend a ceremony?" Minato replied neutrally.

"The Kazekage did not mention a reason, I assume they are here simply as part of a state visit."

"Naturally," Minato answered giving away nothing.

He had no trouble seeing the hidden meaning. Diplomatic visits by Kage's were rare enough. Bringing along clan heads and other important ninja was usually only done for major events.

Like royal weddings.

The Kazekage obviously wanted this union very badly and if he agreed to it would push to have it completed immediately.

"I am looking forward to talking to him. It should be interesting."


	25. Secret revealed

Hinata was heading towards training ground seven where Kakashi-sensei was planning to start training them for the finals of the Chunin exams. She had not spoken to Naruto-kun since returning from the Forest of Death. Even though she knew her priority needed to be working to get ready for the finals that was _not_ where her focus was at the moment.

XXX

**Yesterday**

"Are you telling me that blonde girl from Sand is going to the Yondaime's home to cook Naruto dinner?" Ino said sounding outraged.

Since her team had failed to qualify she had come to the Hyuuga manner to visit her friend and find out what had happened at the conclusion of the second phase. She had been pleased, though not surprised, to learn Naruto and his team had passed. She had laughed hearing how the Hokage had put that Gaara boy in his place when he had acted up. Hearing about the dinner Temari was making at the Hokage's mansion though had horrified her.

"This is the worst! This is terrible! It's a total disaster! It's the worst thing to happen since the Kyuubi attacked the village!" Ino was jumping about Hinata's room waving her arms about frantically.

"Ino please calm down," Hinata told her. Ino's usual overdramatic antics were beginning to affect her as well. She was feeling very nervous at the prospect of Naruto spending an evening with that girl and Ino was NOT helping. "I'm sure this is nothing but a diplomatic occasion. Naruto is the Hokage's son and she is the Kazekage's daughter. They're probably just doing this as a formal dinner to help foster good relations."

"Hinata! Wake up and smell the impending doom!" Ino grabbed her about the shoulders and began shaking her back and forth. "Don't you see what's going on here?"

"Uhm, what?"

"This girl is _obviously_ after him! She's going there to put her moves on him!"

"Her… her moves?" Hinata asked weakly. Temari was much older and likely more experienced. What sort of 'moves' would she have? Surely she wouldn't do anything provocative with the Hokage right there.

"That's right!" Ino shouted. "My mom talks about it all the time. A woman has to initiate things but always let the man _think_ he's in control. I bet she ends up smiling at him and laughing at his jokes and playing up to him shamelessly to try and get his attention!"

"You mean sort of like you used to do?"

Ino sent her a sharp glare. "Hey this is not about me! Aren't you worried something might happen between those two tonight?"

"Of… of course not."

Ino gave her a knowing smirk. "You don't sound so sure."

"This is nothing but a diplomatic dinner Ino, nothing is going to happen!"

XXX

Despite her words Hinata had grown more and more nervous after Ino had gone. Marriages between important families were common, they helped create alliances and seal ties between villages. The fact the girl was the Kazekage's daughter was a red flag. The idea that a political marriage could be set up between the two families in order to cement the alliance between Konoha and Suna was not at all farfetched.

As a general rule Hinata tried her best not to pry into Naruto's personal life, but she was nervous and thinking about ways to find out just what had happened last night.

As things turned out she was in luck. As she arrived Naruto and Kiba were already there and their Kiba was shamelessly pressing Naruto for details. (Honestly why did boys love to gossip so much?) Since neither boy had noticed her arrival she hunkered down in the nearby bushes and listened in. _I am not spying! _She thought to herself. _This is definitely protective surveillance! _

XXX

Naruto had both hands behind his head and a big foxy grin on his lips. This was so much fun having Kiba so desperate to hear about what had happened last night. Since it was just the guys here he was playing up what had happened to make Kiba even more jealous of him than he already was.

"Come on man you have to tell me more! I'm begging you!" Kiba pleaded. "How was she dressed? What did she look like?"

"Well she came over with this real pretty kimono and her hair down to here." He put a hand halfway down his back. "She had make up on and the girl was seriously hot!"

Kiba was practically drooling.

In her hiding spot Hinata felt her heart sink. _Does Naruto-kun like girls with make up? _

"So what happened? She cooked for you right?" Kiba asked.

"Cooked for me? She made a feast! All sort of these amazing foods they have in Suna. I especially liked these little bread pockets filled with meat and spices. It was really amazing, I mean Kaede is an awesome cook and all but Temari is almost as good and her delicacies were totally different from anything I'd ever had before."

"Sounds like you two got along, huh?" Kiba gave him a conspiratorial look.

Naruto laughed. "Are you kidding? The girl was all over me!"

"All over you?" Kiba practically shrilled. He actually sounded a bit like Ino.

_All over him? _Hinata thought worriedly.

"Yeah," Naruto said really enjoying how jealous Kiba was of him. "She was doing this and that, sitting across from me asking me questions laughing at my jokes hanging on my every word. The girl was so totally into me."

"No way!" Kiba said. "I mean that chick is a total babe! And you know what they say about girls from the desert right?"

"Uh, no, what do they say?"

"That they're all trained how to please a man! They're like totally submissive and know all these tricks. Like they do this dance with veils for you." He looked at his friend sharply. "She didn't do that did she?"

"Nope, no veils." Kiba looked disappointed. "She did say she wanted to be _close _to me and that she hoped we could be _more _than friends."

Hinata's eyes narrowed. Naruto looked awfully pleased with himself.

"You're lying! No way! No way! No way!"

"I swear, and not only that but when we said goodbye she kissed me and said she wanted to see me again."

"She kissed you!"

_She kissed him? _Hinata's fists clenched.

"Hinata is there a reason you're spying on your teammates?"

"Eek!" She jumped about to see Kakashi-sensei standing there looking amused. In his right hand was a book entitled, 'Naughty School Girls Need Discipline.'

"Kakashi-sensei! I wasn't really spying! I was just, ah…"

"Listening to them without letting them know you were here?" He suggested with a smirk beneath his mask. With his free hand he waved that off. "Don't worry about it Hinata, we're ninja after all and if they let their guards down enough to let someone, even a teammate, spy on them it's their own fault."

"You're so lucky!" Kiba shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Of course they're not exactly trying to hide their presence either," Kakashi noted dryly. "Come on Hinata let's begin the training session."

"Hai sensei."

Kakashi had actually been there the entire time watching the scene play out. It was not hard for him to read Hinata's mood or to figure out a way to take advantage of it.

XXX

Naruto noticed that Hinata was a little off today for some reason. She was standing a bit further from him than usual and seemed to be avoiding looking at him for some reason.

He had no idea why.

"Well team," Kakashi began. "First congratulations once more on passing the second phase of the exams. In one month's time you and the other candidates will be facing off at the stadium before not only all of Konoha but many Lords and high ranking officials including the Kazekage."

He paused to let that sink in.

"Try not to embarrass the village."

"**Hey!**" Naruto and Kiba shouted in unison.

"Anyway," Kakashi continued. "Why don't we start off with a sparring session just to get loosened up? Hinata and Naruto I want to see you both fight, oh and please go all out."

"Sure thing," Naruto said lightly. He and Hinata sparred all the time.

"Hai," she said rather tightly.

As they took their positions opposite one another Naruto thought Hinata was looking rather more serious than she usually did.

She fell into the jyuken fighting stance. "**Byakugan.**" The veins about her eyes popped up and gave his childhood friend a fearsome look.

All at once Naruto started to get a little nervous. He fell into his own fighting stance. "Say Hinata, you're not mad at me for some reason are you?"

"What could I _possibly_ be mad at you for Naruto-kun?"

Beneath his mask Kakashi was grinning. He was almost sorry to do this but it would be a good lesson for Naruto about letting his guard down. "Fight!"

XXX

Naruto was on the ground barely conscious and his arms twitching. "Help me…" he said piteously.

Kiba was looking on horrified as Hinata merely stood there as Naruto twitched and moaned in a heap. "Hinata aren't you going to help him now?"

She looked at Kakashi. "Do I have to sensei?"

"Nope, he'll _probably_ live." Kakashi said. "Okay Kiba your turn now."

Both Kiba and Akamaru began to whimper.

XXX

"Sounds like Naruto had a rough day," Minato noted with a chuckle. He and Kakashi were in his private study talking.

Kakashi nodded. "Well on the plus side Hinata got a lot of her anger out and she got to practice reopening chakra points and nerve clusters."

"Still not as scary as Kushina used to be," Minato said fondly.

"Or Rin," Kakashi noted wistfully. "Is there anything more frightening than a jealous woman?"

Both men shared a good laugh.

"Seriously though, isn't it about time you told Naruto what is going on?" Kakashi asked. "I mean as amusing as all this is don't you think he deserves to know what's about to happen?"

Minato slowly nodded. "Yes I suppose it is, the Kazekage and his party will be arriving soon and he needs to know before then."

XXX

In short order a still bruised and sore Naruto found himself in his dad's study with his father and sensei.

"Uh, am I in trouble?"

"No son. It's just that something very important that is going to affect your life is about to take place and it's time you learned about it."

Naruto frowned. "You mean something more important than me making Chunin?"

"You might say so," his father answered and produced a document from out of a pocket. "This will not only affect you Naruto but everyone in the village, everyone in two villages as a matter of fact."

Naruto eyed the small piece of paper feeling nervous. His dad didn't usually exaggerate if he said it was that important it probably was.

"This is an S-rank secret son, though I am revealing it to you, you may not speak of it to anyone other than me, Kakashi, or Temari. That specifically includes your teammates."

"Wait. Why can I talk to Temari about it but not Hinata or Kiba?"

Minato handed his son the document. "Just read this and you'll understand."

Naruto took the paper and began reading it. Halfway through his jaw dropped and he started to make choking sounds. "Dad! You're not agreeing to this are you?"

Minato sighed. This was about the reaction he'd expected; well he couldn't very well blame him. "For the good of the village yes son I am." He looked his son directly in the eye. "I am going to marry Temari."

Naruto's mouth moved but no sounds came out.

"On the bright side maybe she'll let you call her 'kaasan' and tuck you in at night," Kakashi said.

Naruto began to make more choking sounds and fainted.

"Thanks a lot Kakashi."

"Sorry sensei, couldn't resist."


End file.
